The chicken wraps E. coli O1o57:H7 outbreak that the FDA announced in a CORE Outbreak Investigation Table update has now sickened at least 50 people. That’s an increase of 12 more patients since the outbreak was announced almost a week ago.
Because neither the CDC or FDA has issued a formal outbreak notice, there is very little that we know about this outbreak. We do not know the patient age range, where the patients live, illness onset dates, or whether or not anyone has been hospitalized.
We also don’t know where the chicken wraps were sold. It could be at a restaurant, from a grocery store, or even sold from a vending machine.
What we have been told is that this is a “multi-ingredient wrap with chicken suspect.” That could mean the chicken is the culprit, or it could be another ingredient, which may be anything from cheese to lettuce to tomato or the tortilla or a sauce. The FDA has initiated traceback, has started inspecting a facility, and has tested samples. The wrap sandwiches are past their sell by date, and they have been removed from circulation.
So what should you do? If you ate a chicken wrap in the last week or two and have been ill with the symptoms of an E coli infection, see your doctor. If anyone in your family, especially a child, ate the wraps, watch for the symptoms of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is a serious type of kidney failure. Anyone with those symptoms needs to see a doctor as soon as possible.
