The Washington State Department of Health (WSDH) and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) have finally released the serotype of E. coli that has sickened at least 39 people who ate at local Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants from north of Seattle to the Portland, OR region. WSDH and OHA have announced the pathogen to be Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26 (STEC O26 or E. coli 026), and noted that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are also involved in the investigation. The identified victims, and health officials expect there are many more, include 29 people in Washington 10 people in Oregon. So far, at least 14 of the victims have required hospitalization, including 11 in Washington and 3 in Oregon. Fortunately, no deaths have been reported and no cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) have been identified. HUS is a serious and often life-threatening condition linked to ingestion of Shiga toxin-producing bacteria, and can lead to kidney failure.
According to the CDC, DNA fingerprinting of the STEC O26 linked to this outbreak is ongoing, and isolates are being uploaded to the national database known as PulseNet as they are collected – so far, five of the isolates (samples of the pathogen taken from stool tests from victims), including 2 in Washington and 3 in Oregon, have been uploaded. An initial search for this particular PFGE of STEC 026 has not identified any additional victims previously not linked to an outbreak.
Most local reports identify six Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants as those most commonly frequented by the victims, but the company (which is one of the fastest growing of its kind, with 1700 locations nation-wide), out of an abundance of caution, closed all 43 locations in the region.
For more information about the Chipotle Mexican Grill E. coli outbreak, or to talk to an attorney at the Chipotle E. coli Claim Center, call 1-888-335-4901.
