Seventeen-year-old Parker Allred was on a mission trip in Pennsylvania building houses for those in need when he got salmonellosis from a meal he ate at the Tarheel Q restaurant in Lexington, NC. Allred is among at least 100 others who are part of a Salmonella outbreak that has been linked to the restaurant on Highway 64 in Lexington, NC.
“It feels like someone is just twisting your stomach constantly,” Allred told wfmy news2.com. “It’s like there is a constant pain on a scale from 1 to 10 of about 3, and then it has some times where kicks up to about a 10.”
Being seven hours from home made it worse, Allred told the news station. “Because you know that somehow or another you are going to have to drive that seven hours back whether you are feeling good or not.”
Allred said he has always liked the restaurant and will likely eat there again, but he probably won’t order the barbecue.
At least 100 people who are at the restaurant between June 6-19 became within days afterward. Symptoms of Salmonella poisoning include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever, nausea and vomiting reported consuming food from the restaurant located on Highway 64 in Lexington, NC, several days before becoming ill.
The outbreak includes people from seven states and seven North Carolina counties. Most of those sickened are from Davidson County.
Health officials are encouraging everyone who became ill to contact their health department and mention the possible exposure at the Tarheel. The restaurant has voluntarily closed during the investigation.
