Three Oklahomans sick with E.coli, possibly linked to Chipotle — CDC

The customers reported eating at Chipotle outlets between November 18 to November 26 and which corresponds to about a week before they became ill.

The more recent cases are the latest blow for Chipotle, which also closed a restaurant in Boston earlier this month after more than 140 students at Boston College reported feeling gastrointestinal symptoms.

One of the other five cases was in North Dakota and three were in Oklahoma.

Nineteen people were infected from the outbreak in seven states, mostly in the West. Five people were hospitalized, including two with hemolytic uremic syndrome, but no deaths were reported.

The FDA said it is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local officials.

Although the E. coli outbreak related to Costco was initially traced back to a celery and onion mix made by Taylor Farms Pacific Inc which was used in making chicken salad.

Chipotle has been implementing new food-safety measures to prevent or detect contaminants. Amid the outbreak, Chipotle had shut several of its outlets temporarily till the investigations were on. That type, so-called non-0157 STEC infections, tends to be less severe than the 0157 strain, which killed four children in a 1993 Jack in the Box outbreak. It turned out that a norovirus, and not E. coli, was the culprit.

“We have indicated before that we expected that we may see additional cases stemming from this, and CDC is now reporting some additional cases”, the spokesman said.

William Blair analyst Sharon Zackfia told CNBC she has a “buy” rating on the stock, and is not rethinking it because of the recent outbreak issues.

“We believe the multiple outbreaks across various geographies and timeframes make a single supplier or product shipment increasingly unlikely as the cause”, he wrote.

Up to Monday’s close, the stock had lost almost 19 percent since end October, when the first news of food poisoning was reported.

Chipotle, which has worked hard to serve healthful, wholesome food, has been hit with a series of episodes of customers falling ill.

It doesn’t help that you literally can’t spell the word Chipotle without the letters E C O L and I.

Earlier this month, the Mexican fast casual food chain said same store sales will drop 8% to 11% for the 2015 fourth quarter.

For Chipotle’s PR department, investors and diehard fans, things keep going from bad to worse.

The Chipotle restaurants in Lawrence are located at 911 Massachusetts St., 4000 W. Sixth St., and 1420 W. 23rd St. Following the news, JPMorgan downgraded the company’s stock from Overweight to Neutral, and revised down its target price from $630 to $555.