Young women and girls in their teens or younger have been the biggest group sickened in a 29-state outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 that state and federal health investigators have associated with eating raw, prepackaged Nestle cookie dough.
That demographic breakdown comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which provided its first public update today on the outbreak that has sickened at least 66 people. The CDC said the age of patients in the outbreak ranges from 2 to 57. Seventy percent are less than 19 years old and 75 percent of patients are female.
As more details of the outbreak unfold, Pritzker Olsen Attorneys will continue to provide updates. We are representing E. coli victims nationwide. To contact an E. coli attorney at the firm, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free), or complete one of our free case consultation forms online.
The latest CDC report said that Nestle Toll House brand refrigerated cookie dough was identified as the potential source of the outbreak because “most” patients told investigators that they had eaten the product uncooked prior to getting sick. The CDC said raw cookie dough had not previously been associated with an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 and investigators from many health agencies are still digging to confirm the cause through molecular subtyping.
The confirmed illnesses date back to March 1 and the states with the most confirmed cases are Minnesota (6), Colorado (5), Illinois (5), Washington (5), Ohio (4), Texas (3) and Maine (3).
The complete state-by-state list — provided by the CDC — goes as follows: Arkansas (1), Arizona (2), California (2), Colorado (5), Delaware (1), Hawaii (1), Iowa (2), Illinois (5), Kentucky (1), Massachusetts (4), Maryland (2), Maine (3), Minnesota (6), Missouri (2), Montana (1), North Carolina (1), New Hampshire (2), New Jersey (1), Nevada (2), Ohio (4), Oklahoma (1), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (1), Texas (3), Utah (2), Virginia (2), Washington (5), and Wisconsin (1).
As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had reported earlier, 25 patients have been hospitalized as part of the outbreak and seven have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure that is the leading cause of E. coli deaths. So far in the outbreak, no deaths have been reported.
The declaration of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak associated with Nestle cookie dough coincided with a massive Nestle cookie dough recall of all types and flavors of the refrigerated, pre-mixed Toll House brand. Cookie Bar Dough, Cookie Dough Tub; Cookie Dough Tube; Limited Edition Cookie Dough items; Seasonal Cookie Dough and Ultimates Cookie Bar Dough. Nestle has published a complete list of package varieties.
The CDC and FDA have warned consumers not to eat or cook with the recalled products. If you or someone you know recently ate raw Nestle cookie dough and have felt sick, see a physician and make sure E. coli test results are reported to your state health department.
We also recommend contacting an E. coli attorney at Pritzker Olsen to protect your legal rights and seek compensation for your losses. Over the years, the firm has collected tens of millions of dollars for victims of food poisoning. It is one of the few law firms in the country that practices extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation and it is currently deeply involved in wrongful death litigation over the 2008-2009 Salmonella outbreak caused by Peanut Corp. of America that killed nine people and sickened more than 700.
Pritzker Olsen also has been active as an advocate for change in the U.S. food safety system, including calling for increases in the quality and quantity of plant inspections. Newspaper reports quoted Nestle officials as saying the company has stopped operating a plant in Virginia that made the cookie dough.
