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The strain of E. coli that contaminated romaine lettuce and was linked to the deaths of five people was found in a contaminated irrigation canal in Arizona, Thursday announced federal officials. The outbreak appears to be over, more than three months after the first diseases were recorded, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Canal water samples in the Yuma region of Arizona were found to contain the same E. Scott genetic strain that caused the outbreak, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Federal Administration, said in a statement
When eight inmates in a prison in Alaska became ill, FDA investigators found the romaine lettuce disease that was harvested at Harrison Farms in the Yuma area. Health officials said that the lettuce that caused the national outbreak was linked to many farms in the region. Representatives of Harrison Farms could not be contacted on Saturday to comment
Questions remain about how bacteria found themselves in the canal
"More work needs to be done to determine how and why this strain of E. Coli O157 "Health authorities have taken samples of water, soil and manure in the Yuma region to try to determine the exact source of the romaine lettuce salad", said Gottlieb
. Of the five dead, two lived in Minnesota and the others came from Arkansas, California and New York, according to the CDC.The sufferers were from 36 states.
Was the largest outbreak of E. coli in more than a decade.More than 200 people became ill and nearly half of them had to be hospitalized.
In 2006, nearly 200 people were infected with spinach c in one of the 26 states, only one Californian production company was at the center of this epidemic. The most recent contamination was more widespread.
"This is a larger contamination event that affected many farms and ranches, and then spread to the supply chain," says Bill Marler. , a lawyer in Seattle. More than 100 people were sick.
Marler said that many of his clients still had health problems, such as the effects of kidney failure, after eating contaminated lettuce. Many hospitalized people have developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome, according to the CDC.
Industry representatives in Arizona are seeking to ensure that contaminated water does not affect next year's harvests, said Teressa Lopez, a gatekeeper. – Arizona Leafy Greens Food Safety Committee, an organization for growers and shippers of green vegetables
The organization expects more information from the FDA, including how bacteria are arrived in the first place and the specific farms
Lopez said the potential solutions include the search for a different water source for crops or the treatment of water with chemicals for Make sure that it is free from bacteria.
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