Food Poisoning Law Blog : Food Poisoning Lawyer & Attorney : PritzkerLaw : Food Safety, Outbreaks & Recalls

The number of illnesses associated with the Lombard Subway Shigella outbreak is approaching 100 two weeks after the restaurant at 1009 E. Roosevelt Road closed its doors at the urging of the DuPage County Health Department.

A spokesman for the health department told Nation's Restaurant News that 11 people have been hospitalized in the outbreak, which started in late February.

A Subway shigellosis lawsuit filed by national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen alleges that the food poisoning outbreak was caused by improper hand washing and food handling. Investigation has determined that certain food workers at the restaurant tested positive for Shigella.

Pritzker Olsen has been contacted by more than 50 victims in the Illinois Subway Shigella outbreak and is preparing additional lawsuits. To contact a Shigella litigation attorney at the firm, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete the contact form on the side of this Web page.

Our law firm has direct and immediate experience representing victims in Subway food poisoning litigation. We currently represent 16 people who were sickened by Norovirus bacteria after the Subway restaurant in Roseville, Minnesota, catered sandwiches for a workplace luncheon on November 26, 2007. Eighteen of 25 co-workers fell sick after the lunch with diarrhea, vomiting, fever, stomach cramps and other symptoms and the number of illnesses grew to 21.

The Minnesota Department of Health conducted an investigation along with officials from Ramsey County Environmental Health. Stool samples confirmed there was Norovirus infection and investigators determined through interviews of nine Subway employees that two were sick with gastrointestinal illness during the time period investigated.

In both the Lombard Subway outbreak and the Roseville Subway outbreak, the most plausible source of contamination was ill foodworkers.  Contact Pritzker Olsen law firm for more information.

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National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen has filed a lawsuit against Neel Subway, Inc., owner of the Subway restaurant located at 1009 East Roosevelt Road in Lombard, Illinois, on behalf of a resident of DuPage County, Illinois, who battled a severe Shigella infection after eating at the Lombard Subway.

The law firm also represents several other people who contracted Shigella infections (shigellosis) after eating at the Lombard Subway, and is preparing to file additional lawsuits in the near future. The firm has been contacted by at least 50 people affected by the outbreak, which began in late February.

DuPage County Health Department officials have said more than 70 victims have been identified in the Lombard Subway Shigella outbreak..

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The Subway Shigella outbreak in Lombard, Illinois, has sickened at least 50 people in a case of food poisoning that most likely was caused by an infected food handler.

The DuPage County Department of Health and the Illinois Department of Public Health are investigating the Subway outbreak and DuPage spokesman David Hass provided the latest estimate of victims Friday to the Chicago Breaking News Center. He has said that at least 10 people have been hospitalized.

National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen is representing victims of this outbreak and is preparing to file a Lombard Subway Shigella lawsuit in a few days. Firm president and founder Fred Pritzker has called on Subway to immediately pay all medical costs, lost wages and other direct expenses of the victims.

Pritzker Olsen is one of the few law firms in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness and has collected millions for victims of food poisoning.

If you or a loved one has suffered severe gastrointestinal illness after eating at the Lombard Subway restaurant at 1009 E. Roosevelt Road before health officials closed it March 4, contact Pritzker Olsen at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete the contact form on the side of this Web page. 

If you believe you are a victim, it is critically important that your doctor runs the appropriate lab studies to confirm the presence of Shigella. We make sure public health officials are notified of individual cases because we want them to document the problem and address it.

Shigellosis is highly contagious and capable of causing life-threatening illness, but it also is preventable with appropriate hygiene. The bacteria leave the body through the stool of an infected person and enter another person when feces-contaminated hands, food, or objects are placed in the mouth.

Very little of the organism is needed to become infected and the infected food handler can spread the bacteria as long as Shigella remains in the person's stools. That can last for a week or two after symptoms stop, so careful handwashing is important.

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West Chicago Press is reporting that the Lombard Subway Shigella outbreak has expanded from 12 illnesses to 21 reports of lab-confirmed cases of shigellosis.

The Subway restaurant, located at 1009 E. Roosevelt Road, has been closed since March 4 as the DuPage County Illinois Health Department investigates the cause of this outbreak.

National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen is accepting cases on behalf of families whose loved ones have been sickened. A free Subway Shigella litigation consultation can be obtained by calling 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or by completing the contact form on the side of this web page.

Our law firm is one of the few in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation and we have collected millions for victims of food poisoning. Based on what we know about restaurant outbreaks of shigellosis, this particular case of food poisoning was preventable.

Quite often the diarrheal disease Shigella is spread through improper hand-washing by an infected worker -- even for weeks after the worker's own symptoms have subsided. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shigellosis was the third most prevalent of all enteric diseases tracked by CDC's FoodNet Surveillance system. In 2008, the most recent year for which figures are available, there were 3,029 confirmed Shigella infections, or 6.59 per 100,000 population. Salmonella and Campylobacter  were numbers 1 and 2, respectively, on the same list.

More than 50 percent of Shigella victims are under age 11.

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 A spokesman for the DuPage County Illinois Health Department says the Lombard Subway sandwich restaurant that was closed last week due to an outbreak of shigellosis could reopen sometime this week at the earliest.

Spokesman Dave Hass told the suburban Chicago Daily Herald  that the number of confirmed illnesses in the Subway Shigella outbreak related to the store at 1009 E. Roosevelt Road has grown from eight to 12. Seven of the victims have been hospitalized, he said.

There has been no information as to the cause of the outbreak, but it is common for isolated restaurant outbreaks of shigellosis to be caused by an infected worker -- sometimes for several weeks after the person's symptoms subside. Shigella bacteria is in the feces of an infected person and is readily passed by improperly washed hands on lettuce, other food, ice or drinks.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some 10,000 cases of shigellosis are reported per year in the United States. Also known as bacillary dysentery, it causes  diarrhea containing blood and mucus, fever, abdominal cramps, chills, and vomiting. Onset of illness occurs 12 to 50 hours from ingestion of bacteria and it can last a few days to 2 weeks.

National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen is available to victims of this outbreak to answer legal questions and report your case if requested to the investigating health authorities. A Shigella lawyer at our firm can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or by completing the contact sheet on the side of this Web page.

 Our firm is one of the country's leading practitioners of foodborne illness litigation and we have direct experience representing victims of shigellosis outbreaks, including those who have become seriously ill with HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome. We have collected millions for victims of food poisoning.

Besides clustering at individual restaurants, Shigella outbreaks have occurred on numerous cruise ships and have been linked in the past to community beaches, water parks or drinking water. 

In the Lombard Subway Shigella outbreak, local health officials are continuing to urge reports from anyone who ate at the restaurant between February 24 and March 1 and became ill within 12 hours to four days afterward. 

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The DuPage County Illnois Health Department is asking for any reports of diarrheal illness suffered by people who ate at the Subway sandwich shop in Lombard at 1009 East Roosevelt Road.

The restaurant has temporarily been closed as part of the county's Lombard Subway Shigella outbreak investigation. So far, eight confirmed cases of Shigellosis have been reported among Lombard Subway customers, including four who were hospitalized.

 In a written update on the problem, the DuPage Health Department said Friday it had received multiple reports of illness possibly associated with food consumption from the Roosevelt Road Subway location. These cases would be in addition to the eight confirmed illnesses.

"If you or a family member has eaten at the Subway restaurant located at 1009 E. Roosevelt Road in Lombard between February 24 and March 1 and developed diarrheal illness within 12 hours to four days after eating, please consult with your physician and call and report the illness to the DuPage County Health Department at (630) 682-7400.

For answers to legal questions about this outbreak, call a Shigella attorney at national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen. We are leading practitioner of foodborne illness litigation, collecting millions over the years for victims of food poisoning.

Shigella is highly contagious from person to person and also can be acquired from eating contaminated food. The bacteria are present in the stools of an infected person while they are sick and for a few weeks afterward.

County health officials are reminding people who may be sick with Shigellosis not to take antidiarrheal agents such as loperamide (Imodium) or diphenoxylate with atropine (Lomotil) since they can prolong illness in Shigella-infected persons. That's one of the reasons it is important to see a doctor.

For a free case consultation at Pritzker Olsen, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete the information panel on the side of this Web page and we will contact you.

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In Illinois, the Lombard Subway sandwich shop has closed as part of a DuPage County Health Department investigation of a Shigella outbreak.

The health department released a statement saying Subway was cooperating with the probe. Shigella is a bacteria that can be spread from one infected person to the next and also can be transmitted in contaminated food.

Maryann O'Neill, principal of Montini Catholic High School in Lombard, told the Tribune that two students called in sick Wednesday with food poisoning. She said it was her understanding they had eaten at Subway. One of the students was taken to a hospital emergency room.

"It is scary,'' said O'Neill.

Shigellosis also is known as bacillary dysentery. Symptoms include diarrhea containing blood and mucus, fever, abdominal cramps, chills, and vomiting. Onset of illness occurs 12 to 50 hours from ingestion of bacteria and it can last a few days to 2 weeks.

Most Shigella outbreaks result from food, especially salads, prepared and handled by workers using poor personal hygiene. The common transmission is fecal contamination of food and water or person-to-person by fecal-oral route.

If you or a loved one is a victim of this outbreak and want answers to legal questions, contact an attorney at Pritzker Olsen at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free), or by completing our contact form on the side of this Web page. Our law firm is one of the few in the country practicing extensively in the area of food poisoning litigation and we have collected millions for victims in all corners of the country.

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A promising Shigella vaccine developed at the University of Maryland in Baltimore could make its way into developing nations to treat sick children now that it has been licensed to a non-profit group funded in part by Bill and Melinda Gates.

The deal was announced in a press release Monday by the university's School of Medicine Center for Vaccine Development. The plan is that the non-profit group, PATH, or Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, will finish clinical trials and find a pharmaceutical company to partner on the pediatric vaccine.

The World Health Organization estimates that 1.1 million people a year die of Shigella infections around the globe and that more than 60 percent of the deaths are in children under five years old. In developing nations, Shigellosis is a major cause of diarrhea and dysentary.

Among travelers and military personnel, Shigella causes an estimated 580,000 cases of illness per year, according to the press release.

The Shigella project fits with PATH's commitment to accelerate development of safe, affordable vaccines to be used against leading bacterial causes of diarrheal disease and making them available to children in the world's poorest countries.

The licensing deal announced Monday comes at a time when treatment of Shigella infections are in a state of crisis because the bacteria is growing resistant to antibiotics.

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Health officials in Muskegon County, Michigan, have issued an illness advisory after lab tests confirmed that several people got sick from the same strain of Shigella bacteria.

The county's press release said the lab tests were done as part of an investigation into an abnormal  rise in gastrointestinal illness reports.

People sickened by Shigella can develop diarrhea, fever, stomach cramps and vomitting. The symptoms typically last for 4-7 days, but can linger for up to several weeks. The illness, which is spread by ingesting very small amounts of stool or feces, can be treated with antibiotics. In some cases, it can lead to serious complications including brain injuries and hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can cause kidney failure.

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Health officials in Franklin County, Ohio, are attempting to find the cause of 97 reported cases of shigellosis. Shigellosis is an intestinal infection of the Shigella bacteria, causing diarrhea, fever, and cramping, and is most common in toddlers. The source of the disease can often be traced back to daycare centers, restaurants, and swimming pools that do not contain chlorine.

According to 10TV, Franklin County only reported 17 cases of shigellosis in 2007, but nearly 100 cases have been reported in the past few weeks. The source of disease has not yet been identified by health officials, but they have notified area daycares and health institutions to increase the awareness of the disease.

If the source of the disease is found to be a restaurant or daycare center, affected individuals may be entitled to compensation due to the liability held by those institutions. To contact our law firm, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free), email Fred Pritzker or submit our firm's free E. coli case consultation form.

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Startling new research contributes more information about the effectiveness of antibiotics to kill bacteria, specifically in livestock.  Researchers from Harvard were trying to find microbes that could be used to convert waste into biofuels when they discovered that bacteria covered in antibiotics were not only unaffected by the drugs, but actually consumed them.

According to Discover, the researchers gathered 11 soil samples that had varying levels of man-made antibiotics to see if more drug-consuming bacteria could be found. They found that in all samples, bacteria, including Shigella and E. coli, existed that lived entirely off of the consumption of antibiotics. Some of the bacteria were thriving in conditions that contained more that 100 times the normal dose of antibiotics given to humans and more than 50 times the amount necessary to consider a bacterium resistant.

This research not only adds fuel to the fiery debate over the use of antibiotics, but suggests that bacteria resistance isn’t the only problem.  If bacteria actually eat the drugs and the genes from these bacteria spread into pathogenic bacteria, standard treatments could become entirely ineffective.

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We contacted the Texas Department of State Health Services for any updates on the illnesses caused by a shiga toxin.  Six people, including three children, were sickened. One of the children died.

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Officials from the Peoria (IL) City/County Health Department report a spike in the number of shigellosis cases.  Caused by the Shigella bacteria, shigellosis affects the intestinal tract and can normally be prevented by proper hand washing.

According to Peoria’s Journal Star,

Randall McClallen, communicable disease coordinator, said the department fields between 20 to 30 reported cases each year. In the past three to four months, however, about 60 cases have been reported, though not all of the cases have been confirmed. So far, no definite connection has been found between the cases.

Shigellosis is usually by spread by persons with the disease when they do not properly wash their hands and come in contact with others.  The infection is also spread by contaminated food. Symptoms of infection include bloody diarrhea, fever, vomiting, and stomach cramps.

Pritzker Law has successfully represented people sickened by Shigella. For a free consultation regarding legal representation, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm's free case consultation form.

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As food safety lawyers, we know that foodborne illnesses can lead to serious health problems that may not manifest themselves until months or years after a person first becomes ill. That is why compensation packages for victims of foodborne outbreaks need to include amounts for future medical expenses and future pain and suffering. 

Delayed health consequences of foodborne illnesses are discussed in one of today's AP stories, “Food Poisoning Can Be Long-Term Problem”:   

It's a dirty little secret of food poisoning: E. coli and certain other foodborne illnesses can sometimes trigger serious health problems months or years after patients survived that initial bout. Scientists only now are unraveling a legacy that has largely gone unnoticed.

What they've spotted so far is troubling. In interviews with The Associated Press, they described high blood pressure, kidney damage, even full kidney failure striking 10 to 20 years later in people who survived severe E. coli infection as children, arthritis after a bout of salmonella or shigella, and a mysterious paralysis that can attack people who just had mild symptoms of campylobacter.

In an effort to document and study some of these health affects, S.T.O.P. (Safe Tables Our Priority) is creating a national registry of foodborne illness survivors with long-term health problems, according to AP. The story quotes Donna Rosenbaum, Executive Director of S.T.O.P., "We're drastically underestimating the burden on society that foodborne illnesses represent."

The AP story discusses some of the long-term health consequences of an E. coli infection that has led to the development of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS):

About 10 percent of E. coli sufferers develop a life-threatening complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, where their kidneys and other organs fail.

Ten to 20 years after they recover, between 30 percent and half of HUS survivors will have some kidney-caused problem, says Dr. Andrew Pavia, the university's pediatric infectious diseases chief. That includes high blood pressure caused by scarred kidneys, slowly failing kidneys, even end-stage kidney failure that requires dialysis.

The story also discusses how many of the nations Guillain-Barre cases are associated with previous Campylobacter infections:

About 1 in 1,000 sufferers of campylobacter, a diarrhea-causing infection spread by raw poultry, develop far more serious Guillain-Barre syndrome a month or so later. Their body attacks their nerves, causing paralysis that usually requires intensive care and a ventilator to breathe. About a third of the nation's Guillain-Barre cases have been linked to previous campylobacter, even if the diarrhea was very mild, and they typically suffer a more severe case than patients who never had food poisoning.

The story points out the connection between reactive arthritis and Salmonella, Shigella and Yersinia:

A small number of people develop what's called reactive arthritis six months or longer after a bout of salmonella. It causes joint pain, eye inflammation, sometimes painful urination, and can lead to chronic arthritis. Certain strains of shigella and yersinia bacteria, far more common abroad than in the U.S., trigger this reactive arthritis, too.

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Article written by Fred Pritzker

We represent people injured by unsafe food products, usually containing foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, Listeria, Salmonella, Shigella, or Hepatitis A.

As part of our service to the public, we’re asked to evaluate potential foodborne illness cases. Here is some information about how food safety lawyers prove foodborne illness cases.

In order to prove a case of foodborne illness, the injured person has to prove the following three elements: 1) the food product was defective, 2) the defect caused illness, and, 3) the person suffered damage as a result of that defect.

A food product is defective, according to the definition used in many states, “if an ordinary consumer would not reasonably expect the food product to contain the substance that caused the harm.”

Since food consumers do not expect the food they eat to contain injurious or lethal pathogens, satisfying the first element of foodborne illness proof is usually not difficult.

Some states, however, do not follow the “consumer expectation” test and require proof of food “adulteration.” That term is usually defined as follows:

• It contains an added poisonous or deleterious substance that may make the food injurious to health, or that is not necessary for food production.
• It contains enough of a poisonous or deleterious substance (added or not) to make the food normally injurious to health.
• It contains any added substance that is considered “unsafe” under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, or that is present at levels considered “unsafe” under the federal act. The federal Food and Drug Administration publishes a list of substances “generally recognized as safe” (the GRAS list), but a substance is not necessarily considered “unsafe” merely because it is not included on the GRAS list.
• It contains any diseased, contaminated, filthy, putrid or decomposed substance or is otherwise unfit for food.
• It has been produced, prepared, packed, or held under unsanitary conditions that may have caused it to become contaminated, diseased, unwholesome or injurious to health.
• It is the product of a diseased animal, or an animal that died other than by slaughter.
• Its packaging contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may make the food injurious to health.
• The seller misrepresents the food contents, directly or by implication.

As a general rule, any food contaminated with a foodborne pathogen (e.g. E. coli O157:H7, Shigella, Listeria, Salmonella, etc.) is considered adulterated.

In foodborne illness litigation, the much more difficult element of proof is “causation”: Is the suspected food product the actual cause of the victim’s illness?

In order to prove causation, the first step is to identify the actual foodborne pathogen responsible for the victim’s symptoms. Put another way, identifying foodborne illness symptoms is not enough; in most cases, one has to prove the specific foodborne pathogen responsible for a client’s symptoms. The following example illustrates the point.

If you were injured in a car accident and wanted to sue the driver responsible for the crash, you would have to prove more than just that a car hit you. You would need to identify the make, model, color, year and serial number of the car as well as the vehicle’s owner. So it is with foodborne pathogens. You first have to nail down the specific foodborne pathogen responsible for your illness. This is done through testing, usually of the victim’s stool, blood or other bodily fluids. Thus, when you are sick enough to require medical treatment, insist that the doctor order appropriate tests to identify the particular foodborne pathogen responsible for your symptoms. This should ideally be done before antibiotics are prescribed. That’s because antibiotics may often kill off the pathogen before it can be identified.

Knowing the exact pathogen responsible for your symptoms also helps us to know when you likely consumed the food that caused your illness. Here’s how: all foodborne pathogens have incubation periods, the time from when you ate the food to the time when your symptoms first appear. By knowing when you ate the food we have a better idea of where it came from.

Foodborne pathogens have different incubation periods – from hours to weeks. For example, in the case of E. coli O157:H7 the incubation period is two to eight days (average of 3-4). Thus, if your testing confirms you have E. coli O157:H7, the food that caused it was probably eaten days, not hours, before your symptoms first appeared.  On the other hand, the incubation period for Hepatitis A is an average of one month.

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Los Angeles Salad Company has recalled its "Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots" with a sell-by-date code up to and including August 16, 2007 printed on the back of the packages because the product may be contaminated with the bacteria Shigella. The product was sold in packages with two labels:

• "Los Angeles Salad Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots" distributed by Kroger Co. King Sooper, in Tennessee; Kroger Co. Ralphs in California; Publix in Georgia and Florida; and Get Fresh in Nevada. All of these packages were sold in flexible plastic bags in 7 and 8 oz. size with a sell-by-date code up to and including August 16, 2007.
• "Trader Joe's Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots" distributed by Trader Joe's in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington in 7 oz. flexible plastic bags with a sell-by-date code up to and including August 8, 2007.

The recall was initiated after it was discovered that the same product sold in Canada was contaminated with Shigella. There were four reported incidences of illness in Canada from August 4-6, 2007. No one was hospitalized and all persons affected have fully recovered. An ongoing investigation is being conducted to find the cause of the problem, but at this time the source has not been determined.

Pritzker Law, a leading foodborne illness litigation law firm, has extensive Shigella lawsuit experience.  To contact the firm, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm's online contact form.

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Our firm is investigating the Shigella outbreak associated with the Souplantation restaurant on Lake Avenue in Pasadena, California.  At least 30 people who ate at the restaurant from Sunday, July 22 through Tuesday, July 24 have reported illness. Health officials have not determined the source of the outbreak.  In a Shigella outbreak linked to a restaurant, the source can be an infected food handler who has not used good hygiene—the food handler’s feces contaminate food that is then served to restaurant customers.  The source may also be food or water that has been contaminated in other ways. 

In many outbreaks, health officials are not able to conclusively determine the source of the outbreak.  Even if health officials are not able to pinpoint a source of an outbreak associated with a restaurant, victims of the outbreak have a claim against the restaurant. If you have questions about a restaurant's  liability for damages in a Shigella outbreak, please contact Pritzker Law for a free consultation, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm’s online consultation form. 

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** OUTBREAK UPDATE: Our firm is investigation the Shigella outbreak associated with the Souplantation restaurant in Pasadena.  For Souplantation lawsuit information, please contact Pritzker Law toll-free at 1-999-377-8900 or submit the firm's online consultation form. **

At least 30 patrons of the Souplantation restaurant in Pasadena, California, were sickened by Shigella, according to a story on KABC-TV. Shigella causes gastrointestinal illness, and in rare cases, Shigella can cause Reiter’s syndrome, a form of arthritis, and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a leading cause of kidney failure in the United States.

In March of this year, an E. coli outbreak was linked to the Foothill Ranch Souplantation. At least 15 people were sickened.

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The CDC released a report Thursday on data collected on foodborne illness levels in the United States collected by the agency's Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet).  Campylobacter, Listeria, Shigella and Yersinia (plague) levels have all declined since baseline data was collected from 1996-1998.

FoodNet data showed there has been little change in the number of Salmonella cases while the progress made in 2003 and 2004 reduction of E. coli O157 has been lost.   Vibrio infections, which are  usually related to the consumption of raw shellfish, have increased to the highest level since FoodNet began surveillance.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, the CDC director, had this to say about the results of the study:

As recent outbreaks have shown, too many people in the United States are getting sick each year from foodborne illnesses.  For instance, the outbreaks involving tomatoes, lettuce and spinach underscore the need to more effectively prevent contamination of produce.  We're also working to strengthen our ability to quickly detect and identify foodborne illnesses.  We know the faster we can detect an outbreak, the faster we can take actions that will help protect people.

Officials are unsure why incidences of E. coli O157 have increased, but believe it may be associated with the rise in number of infections cause by foods such as spinach and peanut butter which previously were not associated to infections. 

Fred Pritzker is a nationally leading food poisoning attorney from Minnesota that has recovered millions of dollars for victims of food poisoning, including a recent settlement for $6,425,000.  To contact attorney Fred Pritzker, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm's

.

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Local schools and day cares in Hamilton County, Ohio are being warned about a possible Shigella outbreak.  There have been 25 cases of Shigella reported so far this year, with several coming from the same day care.

Health officials are urging doctors, parents and day care workers promote hand washing as the best method of preventing the spread of Shigella.  Since Shigella is spread by person-to-person contact, hand washing is the easiest and most effective way to control outbreaks. 

If a child has symptoms of Shigella such as severe, possibly bloody diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps, a health care provider should be contacted.

Lawyer Fred Pritzker, one of the nation's leading attorneys in the field of foodborne illness, recently obtained the largest recovery for a Shigella case in Minnesota.  For valuable information on Shigella infections, see www.pritzkerlaw.com/shigella.  To contact Fred Pritzker or another lawyer at Pritzker law, call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or e-mail Fred Pritzker at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com.

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There has been a large increase in the number of shigellosis (Shigella infection) cases in Broward County, Florida so far this year.   Last year at this time there were only 8 incidences, but this year the number of infections has risen to 52.  Officials are unsure of the source.

County Health Department Officials are urging parents, schools, and daycare centers to take precautions.  If a child has symptoms of Shigella such as severe, possibly bloody diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps, a health care provider should be contacted.

Shigella can spread from person to person through any physical contact, so thorough handwashing is recommended as the best way to prevent Shigella infection.  

For valuable information on shigellosis, see www.pritzkerlaw.com/shigella.  Lawyer Fred Pritzker, one of the nation's leading attorneys in the field of foodborne illness, recently obtained the largest recovery for a Shigella case in Minnesota.  To contact Fred Pritzker or another lawyer at Pritzker law, call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or e-mail Fred Pritzker at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com. 

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• Wash hands with soap carefully and frequently, especially after going to the bathroom, after changing diapers, and before preparing foods or beverages.
• Dispose of soiled diapers properly.
• Disinfect diaper changing areas after using them.
• Keep children with diarrhea out of child care settings.
• Supervise handwashing of toddlers and small children after they use the toilet.
• Persons with diarrheal illness should not prepare food for others.
• If you are traveling to the developing world, "boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it."
• Avoid drinking pool water.

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Ten people in the San Diego area have reported symptoms of Shigella poisoning (shigellosis), which include fever, watery or bloody diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. San Diego County health officials have linked the ten illnesses to Filibertos restaurant in San Diego, California. People may have been exposed to Shigella by eating at the establishment between Aug. 24 and Aug. 28. The restaurant was closed by San Diego County health officials on Thursday, August 31, and will remain closed until all violations have been addressed.

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We spoke with Julie Goplin, an epidemiologist with the North Dakota Department of Health. She said the department is still interviewing the 28 people who have shigellosis (Shigella infection) in Rolette, North Dakota. She said that the rural nature of the county is making the investigation more difficult and that no one thing can be linked to all 28 people. For valuable information on Shigella, please see www.pritzkerlaw.com/shigella. Below is a press release regarding the shigellosis cases in North Dakota.

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Rolette County, North Dakota, reported 13 confirmed cases of shigellosis (Shigella infection) in July 2006. All but one are children under 18, and 6 people were hospitalized. 5 additional people have reported symptoms of shigellosis, which are diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. The diarrhea is often bloody.

Health officials have not found the source of the Shigella bacteria that is behind the shigellosis outbreak. As the investigation continues, the North Dakota Department of Health is urging residents of Rolette County to take measures to prevent shigellosis.

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Pritzker | Ruohonen is a leader in the area of food poisoning lawsuits. As part of the food safety community, we alert consumers to food poisoning news. In the last few weeks, potato salad has surfaced as a potential safety risk. On June 30 the FDA announced the recall of Shernoff's Potato Salad due to possible Listeria contamination. Earlier in June, a food poisoning outbreak in Bowling Green, Ohio, sickened 100 people. Health officials are looking at contaminated potato salad as the likely source. Nick & Jimmy's Bar and Grill of Toledo, Ohio, had provided the potato salad at a catered event.

With potato salad being recalled and linked to food poisoning in the last few weeks, we looked at CDC foodborne outbreak statistics from 2000-2004 (CDC 2005 statistics will not be out until December 2006 or later) to find information about past foodborne outbreaks linked to potato salad. We found that potato salad has been the source of 17 food poisoning outbreaks involving several different foodborne pathogens.

Potato Salad Food Poisoning Outbreaks 2000:

• Salmonella
• Staphylococcus aureus
• Norovirus

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Shigellosis is the foodborne illness associated with a Shigella infection and is transmitted by the fecal-oral route, which means that fecal matter from a person infected with Shigella bacteria finds its way into the mouth of another person. The best way to prevent shigellosis is careful handwashing with soap.

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Pritzker | Ruohonen is one of the few law firms that practices extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation, including Shigella lawsuits. Shigella (shigellosis) is a preventable foodborne illness. When a restaurant does not enforce strict sanitation measures, food handlers can spread Shigella to diners. The following is information from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) regarding how Shigella is spread. We include it here as a public service.

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Two children who attend the Family and Children's Education Services (FACES) center in Brunswick, Georgia, have been diagnosed with shigellosis. The 320 students ages 3 to 5 who attend the FACES program in Brunswick, Georgia, are at risk for infection with the Shigella bacteria, which is the cause of shigellosis.

Health officials are still investigating, and parents who have children attending FACES in Brunswick, Georgia, are encouraged to watch for symptoms of shigellosis.

Shigellosis is caused by the Shigella bacteria. Once one is infected with the Shigella bacteria, symptoms may appear within a day. Symptoms of shigellosis are usually mild, but shigellosis may lead to severe illness in young children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

Most who are infected with Shigella develop diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps starting a day or two after they are exposed to the bacterium. The diarrhea is often bloody. Shigellosis usually resolves in 5 to 7 days. In some persons, especially young children and the elderly, the diarrhea can be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. A severe infection with high fever may also be associated with seizures in children less than 2 years old. Some persons who are infected may have no symptoms at all, but may still pass the Shigella bacteria to others.

Attorney Fred Pritzker has had years of food poisoning lawsuit experience. He obtained the largest Shigella recovery in Minnesota history and is currently lead attorney in a major food poisoning case involving victims from several states.

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