The Michigan Department of Community Health is warning people to avoid raw clover sprouts. Seven people have become ill after eating them at sandwich shops around the state, and two people have been hospitalized. The establishments that served the sandwiches have not been identified. The onset of illness ranges from February 6 to February 12, 2012.
So far, two cases of E. coli 026 infections have been confirmed, bringing the total sickened by this particular bacteria to 14. Their genetic fingerprint matches the bacteria blamed for the outbreak at Jimmy John’s restaurants in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Wisconsin.
E. coli 026 can cause severe or life-threatening illness because it produces Shiga toxins, poisonous proteins that cause serious illness. In fact, shiga toxin illness hospitalizes thousands of people each year and kills about 90. Symptoms of E. coli 026 infection causes bloody diarrhea, acute diarrhea, and abdominal cramps.
