E. coli outbreak linked to lettuce now in sixteen states
Eighteen more people and five more states are now part of the investigation into an E. coli outbreak that the Centers for Disease Control says has sickened 53 people, including two in Mahoning County.

WASHINGTON - Eighteen more people and five more states are now part of the investigation into an E. coli outbreak that the Centers for Disease Control says have sickened 53 people, including two in Mahoning County.
Although the CDC has linked the outbreak to chopped romaine lettuce grown in the Yuma, Arizona region, no common grower, supplier, distributor, or brand has been identified.
According to information updated by the CDC on Wednesday Alaska, Arizona, California, Louisiana, and Montana, have reported ill people linked to the outbreak.
Those states are in addition to eleven other states including Ohio and Pennsylvania.
A dozen people have become ill in Pennsylvania.
Both cases in Ohio involved two 24-year-old women in Mahoning County last month. One of the women was temporarily hospitalized.
Nine people around the country have been hospitalized, including two people who developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome. No deaths have been reported.
Illnesses that occurred after March 29, 2018, might not yet be reported due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill with E. coli and when the illness is reported. It takes an average of two to three weeks.
State and local health officials continue to interview ill people to ask about the foods they ate and other exposures before they became ill.
Forty-one of 43 people interviewed by health officials reported eating romaine lettuce in the week before their illness started.
Most people reported eating a salad at a restaurant, and romaine lettuce was the only common ingredient identified among the salads eaten.
The restaurants reported using bagged, chopped romaine lettuce to make salads.
At this time, ill people are not reporting whole heads or hearts of romaine.
Advice to Consumers:
Consumers anywhere in the United States who have store-bought chopped romaine lettuce at home, including salads and salad mixes containing chopped romaine lettuce, should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick. If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine, do not eat it and throw it away.
Before purchasing romaine lettuce at a grocery store or eating it at a restaurant, confirm with the store or restaurant that it is not chopped romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region. If you cannot confirm the source of the romaine lettuce, do not buy it or eat it.
Advice to Restaurants and Retailers:
Restaurants and retailers should not serve or sell any chopped romaine lettuce, including salads and salad mixes containing chopped romaine lettuce, from the Yuma, Arizona growing region.
Restaurants and retailers should ask their suppliers about the source of their chopped romaine lettuce.