Multistate E.coli infection outbreak appears to be over: CDC

[January 10, 2019]  (Reuters) - The multistate outbreak of E. coli infections linked to romaine lettuce from the Central Coastal growing regions in northern and central California appears to be over, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday.

Sixty-two people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli were reported from 16 states and the District of Columbia, the CDC said in an update https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-11-18/index.html on its investigation into the outbreak.

The multistate outbreak of E. coli infections related to romaine lettuce led to a nationwide public health warning for consumers and was first issued by U.S. health regulators in November.

Late last month, the Canadian health regulator said the E. coli outbreak in Canada appeared to be over and there have not been any illnesses since mid-November.

CDC said it identified the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 in sediment collected within an agricultural water reservoir on a farm in Santa Barbara County.

People infected with the bacteria get sick 2 to 8 days after swallowing the germ, and may sometimes develop a type of kidney failure.

The regulator advised people not to eat, sell, or serve any recalled red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, and cauliflower harvested between November 27-30, 2018 from Adam Bros. Farming, Inc, in Santa Barbara County.

No deaths were reported, though twenty-five people were hospitalized, including two people who developed a type of kidney failure, the CDC said.

(Reporting by Manogna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

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