Costco Gouda E. coli Outbreak Probe Continues
Additional lab testing is ongoing to confirm the presence of E. coli 0157:H7 discovered in a package of Bravo Farms Dutch Style Gouda Cheese purchased at Costco by a victim of the Costco gouda E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 25 people in Arizona, Colorado, California, Nevada and New Mexico.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest update on the Bravo Farms cheese E. coli outbreak that the results so far establish a preliminary link between the outbreak and one of several cheeses sampled and sold at Costco’s ”cheese road show” held at Costco Warehouses from October 5 to November 1. Bravo Farms is based in Traver, California.
According to the CDC, additional investigative activities are ongoing and include:
- Conducting surveillance for additional illnesses that could be related to the outbreak.
- Conducting epidemiologic studies that include collecting detailed information from ill persons (cases) and from healthy persons (controls) about foods recently eaten and other exposures.
- Gathering and testing food products that are suspected as possible sources of infection to see if they are contaminated with bacteria.
- Following epidemiologic leads gathered from interviews with patients, food purchase information, or from patterns of processing, production and/or distribution of suspected products.
- Investigating where in the distribution chain the point of contamination could have occurred.
This Costco cheese E. coli outbreak involves a rare strain of E. coli O157:H7 that has never been seen before in the PulseNet database. PulseNet is CDC’s national subtyping network made up of state, local and federal health laboratories. The network allows foodborne illness investigators to match illnesses to the same food source using genetic fingerprinting.
So far, nine victims have been hospitalized, including one with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a sometimes fatal complication that can result in kidney failure, stroke, heart problems, anemia and central nervous system disorders, including paralysis. Small children, older adults and others with underdeveloped or weakened immune systems are most susceptiple to HUS.
A Costco/Bravo Farms E. coli outbreak claims center has been established by law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., for families and individuals affected by illnesses believed to be caused by contaminated cheese sold at Costco. An E. coli lawyer will provide a free case consultation at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or by completing the contact form on the side of this Web page. Pritzker Olsen is a leading national practitioner of E. coli litigation and has collected millions of dollars for people across the country in connection with foodborne illness outbreaks.
Tags: Colorado E. coli, E. coli Lawyer
