Health officer and Director of Communicable Disease Controller, Dr. George S. Han, announced today that a popular San Jose restaurant, Mariscos San Juan, located at 205 N. 4th Street, had been closed by Santa Clara County health officials on Sunday, October 18th. According to the announcement, this last Saturday, October the 17th, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department received reports of at least 5 recent Mariscos San Juan patrons presenting to local area hospitals with fever and diarrhea. Over the next day, another 19 sick individuals were identified, bringing the total to 24. Each of the Mariscos San Juan patrons had consumed food there on Friday October 16th or Saturday October 17th.
According to Dr. Han, Mariscos San Juan restaurant was closed and remains closed at this time pending investigation into the source of the illnesses, now identified as having been caused by ingestion of food tainted with Shigella.
At present, at least 40 victims have been identified, with nearly a third testing positive in stool samples for Shigella, and one testing positive after a blood culture grew Shigella sonnei. Most of the victims required treatment at a hospital, and according to Santa Clara County Public Health Department spokesperson Allison Thrash, 12 remain in intensive care units. According to Dr. Han, these numbers likely represent only a small portion of the overall population of victims, and the actual number is likely to grow in the coming days.
Neither state nor local health agencies will speculate as to when Mariscos San Juan restaurant will be allowed to reopen. Thrash stated simple that “the investigation is still ongoing. We’re trying to get to the bottom of it.”
If you or a loved one became ill after eating at Mariscos San Juan this last week, or would like to discuss the Mariscos San Juan Food Poisoning Outbreak, call the Shigella Lawyers at Ron Simon & Associates at 1-888-335-4901.
