Lettuce Food Poisoning Outbreak Linked to Freshway Foods CDC Update
An 18-year-old woman with E. coli HUS (hemolytic uremic syndrome) has retained Attorney Fred Pritzker to represent her as she seeks compensation from Freshway Foods of Sidney, Oklahoma. Our client, a student at Daemen College in Amherst, New York, is one of 23 people who have confirmed cases of E. coli O145 linked to Freshway Foods romaine lettuce.
Two students in Wappinger Falls, New York (a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old) have also contracted E. coli HUS in the Freshway Foods lettuce food poisoning outbreak. The students ate romaine lettuce that had been supplied to the school district by Freshway Foods.
HUS is a life-threatening complication of an E. coli O145 infection that can cause kidney failure, stroke, heart attack, seizures, coma, pancreatitis and other serious health problems. For a free consultation with attorney Fred Pritzker, please call 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or submit our free consultation form.
The latest information from the CDC is as follows:
The number of ill persons identified in each state with this strain is: MI (10 confirmed and 3 probable), NY (4 confirmed and 3 probable), OH (8 confirmed and 1 probable), and TN (1 confirmed).
Among the confirmed and probable cases with reported dates available, illnesses began between April 10, 2010 and April 26, 2010. Infected individuals range in age from 13 years old to 31 years old and the median age is 19 years. Sixty-six percent of patients are male.Among the 30 patients with available information, 12 (40%) were hospitalized. Three patients have developed a type of kidney failure known as hemolytic-uremic syndrome, or HUS. No deaths have been reported.
Multiple lines of evidence have implicated shredded romaine lettuce from one processing facility as a source of infection in this outbreak. This evidence includes the identification of the outbreak strain of E. coli O145 from an unopened package of shredded romaine lettuce obtained at an institution that received product from the processing facility linked to the outbreak. A case-control study in Michigan found a significant association between illness and consumption of romaine lettuce processed at the same facility that processed lettuce consumed by ill persons in New York, Ohio and Tennessee.
The lettuce processing company (Freshway Foods) has issued a recall of lettuce produced at their facility as a result of the evidence obtained to date. An additional recall was issued by a separate company that received lettuce from the same farm as the processing company linked to the outbreak.
