Four More People Die From Tainted Romaine Lettuce

Four more people have died from tainted romaine lettuce, federal health officials said Friday, bringing the entire to 5 deaths associated with a virulent strain of E. coli whose source has still not been located.

In addition, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the case count: 197 people from 35 states were sickened.

Food and Drug Administration officials said, however, that romaine now purchasable on groceries, shelves are safe to eat.

The season within the Yuma, Ariz. region, which produced the contaminated lettuce, ended April 16.

consistent with an FDA blog post, “Any contaminated product from the Yuma growing region has already worked its way through the food supply and is not any longer available for consumption.

So any immediate risk is gone.” The F.D.A. said its investigators were still working to trace sources of the outbreak.

While they need to be traced the toxic E. coli strain to the Yuma growing region, they're still trying to find the precise source — whether it originated within the water system, harvesting equipment, a processing plant within the area, or elsewhere.

The disclosure of more deaths followed a federal announcement fortnight ago that the danger had passed.

Officials from the C.D.C. and the F.D.A. emphasized that nearly of these illnesses were contracted during the window when the lettuce was still purchasable.

The last reported illness began on May 12. there's typically a lag between the time when someone falls ill and therefore the C.D.C. is alerted.

Some of the ill patients had not eaten romaine themselves but became sick through contact with others who had, the C.D.C. said.

According to the agency, most of the people who become sick start experiencing symptoms three to four days after consuming produce tainted by Shiga-toxin producing E.coli O157: H7. Most recover within every week.

Symptoms can include bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and severe stomach cramps.

Many patients during this outbreak became so ill that they needed to be hospitalized, including 26 who developed a kind of renal failure called a hemolytic uremic syndrome.