One person in Mesa County has died and 25 others in Colorado were sickened from an E. coli outbreak that federal officials are linking to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers.
“This is a fast-moving outbreak investigation,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an update posted on its website Tuesday. “Most sick people are reporting eating Quarter Pounder hamburgers from McDonald’s and investigators are working quickly to confirm which food ingredient is contaminated.”
The outbreak has been tracked among people across the country — 49 people in 10 states — but the highest number of infected people are in Colorado, officials said.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said Tuesday it is coordinating with the CDC in its investigation.
The cases were reported from people who live in nine counties: Arapahoe, Chaffee, El Paso, Gunnison, Larimer, Mesa, Routt, Teller and Weld. But a person may not have eaten a McDonald’s in the county they reside, Hope Shuler, a spokesperson for CDPHE said.
“We suspect that all Colorado McDonald’s locations received ingredients from the same suppliers, so we believe all McDonald’s may be affected,” she said.
At least 10 cases have been linked to Mesa County, including the older adult with underlying health conditions who died after contracting E. coli, a spokesperson with the county’s health department said.
Public health officials believe the number of infected people could be much higher than the number reported because many people recover from E. coli without medical care and are not tested for the illness.
It also takes between three to four weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak, the CDC said, so the number of sick people could increase in the coming days.
People started to get sick Sept. 27, the CDC said. At least 10 people have been hospitalized and one person developed a serious condition that can cause kidney failure, the agency said.
State and local public health officials are interviewing people about the foods they ate the week before they got sick. Of the 18 people interviewed, all of them reported eating at McDonald’s and 16 people said they had a beef hamburger, the CDC said.
Of the 14 people who remember the specific beef hamburger they had, 12 of them said they ate a Quarter Pounder. Investigators think the onions or beef patties in the Quarter Pounder could be the culprit.
McDonalds told federal officials that it has stopped using those ingredients in stores in several states and Quarter Pounders might not be available for sale.
Danny Katz, executive director of CoPIRG, said the vast majority of contamination from salmonella, listeria and E.coli stems from poor sanitation practices.
“Someone handling the food didn’t wash their hands. Or crops are grown too close to farms where animals live and contaminate the soil and runoff with feces. Or products aren’t processed properly. Or companies don’t test products properly,” Katz said in a statement. “Everyone along the food chain — producers, distributors and retailers — needs to do better. Our health depends on it.”
People who recently ate a Quarter Pounder at McDonald’s and are experiencing symptoms of E. coli should contact a local health care provider.
Symptoms of E. coli, which is a bacteria found in the human and animal intestines, include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and in some cases, hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can lead to kidney failure and death.
Most people infected with E. coli don’t start to feel sick until three to four days after eating or drinking something that contains the bacteria. But illnesses can start anywhere from one to 10 days after being exposed.