We just contacted the Effingham County Health Department regarding the E. coli cases associated with the El Rancherito restaurant in Effingham, Illinois. There are 6 confirmed cases of E. coli O157, all of them were hospitalized. One is still in the hospital.
According to the county, all of the people with confirmed cases of E. coli ate at the El Rancherito between September 11th and 13th. They became ill between September 14th and 17th. The county is still awaiting test results that would confirm an E. coli “outbreak,” but epidemiological investigations have determined that all of the victims ate at the El Rancherito.
To confirm that the 6 cases are part of the same E. coli outbreak, genetic fingerprinting is done on E. coli isolates from the people’s stool samples. Pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is the DNA "fingerprinting" method that health officials use to determine the source of E. coli outbreaks. Like human fingerprints, each bacteria and its offspring have a unique PFGE pattern. If all 6 cases of E. coli associated with the El Rancherito have matching PFGE patterns, that will be evidence that all 6 cases were sickened by the same source of E. coli. Any food and water samples taken from the El Rancherito will also be tested for E. coli, and the PFGE patterns of any E. coli isolates will be determined.
We are Pritzker | Ruohonen & Assciates, a leading E. coli litigation law firm. We are currently representing Illinois residents who were sickened in the outbreak associated with Taste of Chicago. We are also representing victims of outbreaks associated with restaurants and the family of a woman who died in an E. coli outbreak associated with a restaurant. To contact an E. coli lawyer at the firm, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm's online consultation form.
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