Romaine lettuce contaminated with the bacterium E. coli: cases also in the United States, with one death

News 3 January, 2018

QMI agency

Tuesday, 2 January 2018 23:15

UPDATE
Tuesday, 2 January 2018 23:15

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The Americans do not seem to have been spared by the fresh lettuces contaminated by the bacterium E. coli detected in recent months in Canada, whereas the disease was identified on 17 occasions with our neighbours to the south.

In a communiqué issued at the end of December, the Center for control and prevention of diseases (CCPM) of the United States has announced that 17 patients from 13 States were infected with E. coli O157:H7. The number, five were hospitalized and one has died from the disease, said a spokesman of the organization of the Toronto Star. Two of the patients underwent a syndrome hemolytic uremic, a disease that attacks the kidneys, causing renal failure.

The CCPM has not established a link between the outbreak of these disease and any food. “The preliminary results show that the type of E. coli making people sick in the two countries is very close genetically, so it is likely that the patients share the same source of infection”, has however stated the Centre in its press release.

In Canada, the public health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has identified 41 cases of people who have fallen ill after being infected with the bacteria in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. One of them is deceased.

The Agency has clarified, in a series of updates to its alert of public health, that many people had eaten the romaine lettuce before they fall sick. The origin of these salads, however, has not been determined with accuracy.

Pending more information, the AGENCY had recommended to the inhabitants of the eastern part of the country to refrain from eating of romaine lettuce. Sobeys has also announced the temporary withdrawal of all its products of romaine lettuce, shelves of its grocery stores.

A contamination with E. coli typically cause symptoms (vomiting, headache, diarrhea, fever, cramps) for a few days. Deaths associated with the disease are rare, assured the public health AGENCY of canada.