No Source Found for E.Coli Chipotle Outbreak

Health officials identified the bug as a strain E. coli O26, based on samples from patients.

Washington state health officials say their first tests found no source for the E. coli outbreak related to Chipotle and the chain’s Pacific Northwest restaurants could reopen later this week.

“The safety of our customers and integrity of our food supply has always been our highest priority”, said Steve Ells, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle in the statement. In addition, interviews with people who fell ill and those who ate at Chipotle but didn’t get sick failed to detect any signal for the cause of the outbreak. Between 5 and 10 percent of people diagnosed with such infections develop a potentially life-threatening complication known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which preferentially affects the very young and the elderly. If investigators don’t test a contaminated sample, they don’t find the pathogen.

They’re trying to determine if there was a menu item in common.

There are now 25 confirmed cases of E. coli in Washington state, 12 more in Oregon.

Additionally the company is batch testing ingredients and conducting environmental testing in restaurants and distribution centers.

Chipotle has voluntarily closed all of its restaurants in the state until more information can be gathered, but we do not yet know the exact origin or extent of the outbreak.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., sent a letter Monday to Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), urging the agency to continue to support the efforts of local health officials to find the source of the problem.

Lindquist said he expects Chipotle will reopen the 43 restaurants it closed in Washington and Oregon by Wednesday or Thursday.

Shiga-toxin producing E.coli cause an estimated 265,000 infections in the United States per year.