The nationwide E. coli outbreak that has caused the CDC to warn against eating literally any romaine lettuce has turned fatal. The Today Showreports that one person has died after eating infected lettuce in California. Two dozen more people have been reported ill since just last week. The total of people who have taken ill from lettuce is now at 120 people in 25 states.
The only similarity between all of the people who got sick is eating salad which contained romaine lettuce at a restaurant. CDC officials now suspect the infected lettuce came from the Yuma, Arizona region. As a result, the CDC has reissued their ban on romaine lettuce, so don't eat any unless you are certain it did not come from that area.
Something sinister has been going on with romaine lettuce since January, when two people died and more than 50 others were hospitalized from E. Coli infections thought to come from romaine lettuce from Canada.
However, the most recent outbreak flared up in April, when 31 people were hospitalized after eating lettuce, five of whom had a E. Coli-related infection. That’s when the CDC first issued its warning against romaine lettuce, which included “whole heads and hearts of romaine lettuce, in addition to chopped romaine salad and salad mixes containing romaine.”
