Lombard Shigella Subway Outbreak Grows
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..jpg)
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.
