CT health officials say no reports of illness in the state, following

BOSTON (AP) – Boston College says the number of students reporting gastrointestinal symptoms after eating at a Chipotle has climbed to 80.

The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), the City of Boston Inspectional Services Department (ISD), and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health launched an investigation to determine the cause and the nature of the illness.

The Boston Public Health Commission said in a statement late Tuesday that results of initial testing conducted by MA officials on some of those affected showed the presence of norovirus.

Chipotle has been handling a spate of food-borne illnesses with a multi-state outbreak of E. coli.

“All of the evidence we have points in that direction”, says spokesman Chris Arnold. It causes as many as 21 million illnesses annually, often in places such as hospitals, cruise ships and universities where people eat and live in close quarters.

The symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and some stomach cramping.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a news release on Tuesday that the onion and celery mix from Taylor Farms Pacific has not been ruled out as the source of the E. coli outbreak that made 19 people sick in seven states and sent five people to the hospital.

The states with reported cases are Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, Minnesota, New York and Ohio. Sales plummeted by as much as 22 percent as additional cases were reported, and were down 16 percent for all of November.

That outbreak was the company’s third food safety incident since August.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.is a publicly-traded company headquartered in Denver. “There are no confirmed cases of E. coli connected to Chipotle in MA”. However, people can still spread the virus from the time they start to feel sick until three days after they have recovered.

In its annual report, Chipotle has noted it may be at a higher risk for outbreaks of food-borne illnesses because of its “fresh produce and meats rather than frozen, and our reliance on employees cooking with traditional methods rather than automation”.