The CDC has declared the multistate outbreak of E. coli 0145 infections that sickened 18 people in 9 states over. One person, a Louisiana toddler, died of the infection. No source for the bacteria has been found.
The cases count is as follows: Alabama (2), California (1), Florida (1), Georgia (5), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (5), Maryland (1), Tennessee (1), and Virginia (1). Four of the patients were hospitalized. The dates for illness onset ranged from April 15, 2012 to June 12, 2012.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collaborated with public health officials in the nine affected states to investigate the outbreak. The age of ill persons ranged from 1 to 79 years; the median age was 33 years. Seventy-eight percent of the patients were female.
Public health officials interviewed 15 of the 18 ill persons, but have not found a common source for the bacteria. Food Poisoning Bulletin first told you of the outbreak on June 5, 2012, when we talked to health officials in Georgia and Louisiana. Lab tests confirmed that all of the 18 cases were genetic matches.
