TIME Health is reporting that more than 50 people have been hospitalized and two people have passed away from E. coli infections over the past seven weeks in North America, and romaine lettuce might be to blame. Officials from both countries have confirmed the outbreak, and have identified the source as Canadian, with 41 of those hospitalized from Canada. What they cannot confirm, however is whether the outbreak stemmed from romaine lettuce or not.
Consumer Reports has advised Americans to stop eating romaine lettuce until further notice, urging consumers to avoid the lettuce until the cause of the outbreak has been 100% confirmed and products get removed from shelves. "Even though we can't say with 100% certainty that romaine lettuce is the cause of the E. coli outbreak in the U.S., a greater degree of caution is appropriate given that romaine lettuce is almost always consumed raw," explained the director of food safety and research at Consumer Reports.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has yet to identify the cause of the outbreak in the United States but explained that the strain of the virus found in the U.S. is the same as the one found in Canada. The majority of E. coli strains have little to no effect on humans, but ones such as this outbreak have been known to cause diarrhea, extreme stomach pain, and vomiting among other symptoms. Vegetables and fruits only become contaminated with the virus when in contact with infected animals, usually via raw meat, which is what most outbreaks are linked to.
The cases in the U.S. outbreak have so far been reported in California, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
