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Washington State E. coli Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce

By Pritzker | Ruohonen

Washington State Health Department officials have implicated commercial, bagged romaine lettuce as the source of a recent E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in Pierce and Thurston counties.  DNA fingerprinting confirmed that the E. coli cases were connected.  Dr. Marcia Goldoft, Acting Epidemiologist of the Washington  Department. of Health said that "This is a product that will be at a restaurant, a cafeteria or a food vendor. This is not a product that would be coming from a grocery store." 

Three people in Thurston County and six people in Pierce country were infected in this outbreak. 
A 10th case was reported but not confrimed because the individual did not undergo testing.  Of those ill in Thurston County, all the victims were teenagers.

We contacted Thurston county today, and they confirmed that three victims were students at Capital High School in Olympia, a fourth was a student at Thurgood Marshall Middle School.  In Pierce County, the cases may be associated with a restaurant and an educational institution.  Because the outbreak is deemed over, health officials are not releasing the names of either, but internet accounts of the outbreak suggest that some of those sickened may have eaten salads at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. 

Several of the victims were briefly hospitalized, but none were seriously ill. 

On June 9th ,Donn Moyer, a spokesman of the Washington Health Department, said that no new cases of the had been reported since May 29.  Officials are still investigating the source of the outbreak and have narrowed their search to three California producers.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on June 09, 2008 (boomark / email).