WASHINGTON - An outbreak of E. coli in eight states has left at least one person dead and 50 others sick, federal health officials said Thursday in warning consumers nationwide not to eat bagged fresh spinach.
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The death occurred in Wisconsin, where 20 people were made ill, state officials said. The outbreak has sickened others — eight of them seriously — in Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah, according to federal health officials.
In California, state health officials were investigating a possible case that could be linked to the outbreak and warned consumers not to eat the produce.
FDA officials do not know the source of the outbreak other than it appears to be linked to bagged fresh spinach. "We're advising people not to eat it," said Dr. David Acheson of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
The outbreak has affected a mix of ages, but most of the cases have involved women, Acheson told reporters in a conference call. He had no further information on the person who died.
The five confirmed patients in Oregon were females who ranged in age from 8 to 62, said Dr. Bill Keene, an epidemiologist with the Oregon Department of Human Services. The cases originated between Aug. 25 and Sept. 1, he said, and were linked to the spinach but not to a specific brand.
"People have either varying or no recollection of the brand they purchased," Keene said.
In Michigan, two adults and a child were sickened, a state health official said. Connecticut reported one case.
"We're telling people if they have bagged produce and they feel like it's a risk, throw it out," Michigan Department of Community Health spokesman T.J. Bucholz said. "If they feel like they have to eat it, wash it first in warm water."
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare was advising people to exercise caution as it tried to gather more information, spokesman Ross Mason said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Wisconsin health officials alerted the FDA about the outbreak Wednesday. Preliminary analysis suggests the same bug is responsible for the outbreak in all eight states.
The warning applied to consumers nationwide because of uncertainty over the origin of the tainted spinach and how widely it was distributed.
Health officials do not know of any link to a specific growing region, grower, brand or supplier, Acheson said.
He said reports of infections have been growing.
"It's increasing by the day," Acheson said. "We may be at the peak, we may not be."
Amy Philpott, a spokeswoman for the United Fresh Produce Association, said that it's possible the cause of the outbreak won't be known for some time, even after its source is determined.
"Our industry is very concerned," she said. "We're taking this very seriously."
E. coli causes diarrhea, often with bloody stools. Most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, although some people — including the very young and old — can develop a form of kidney failure that often leads to death.
Anyone who has gotten sick after eating raw packaged spinach should contact a doctor, officials said.
Other bagged vegetables, including prepackaged salads, apparently are not affected. In general, however, washing all bagged vegetables is recommended.
E. coli lives in the intestines of cattle and other animals and typically is linked to contamination by fecal material. It causes an estimated 73,000 cases of infection, including 61 deaths, each year in the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sources of the bacterium include uncooked produce, raw milk, unpasteurized juice, contaminated water and meat, especially undercooked or raw hamburger, the agency says on its Web site.
In December 2005, an E. coli outbreak sickened at least eight children in Washington state. Officials traced the outbreak to unpasteurized milk from a dairy that had been ordered to stop distributing raw milk.
Last October, the FDA warned people not to eat certain Dole prepackaged salads that were connected to an outbreak of E. coli infections in Minnesota. At least 11 people were sickened.
In 1993, a major E. coli outbreak sickened about 700 people and killed four who ate undercooked Jack in the Box hamburgers in Washington state. That outbreak led to tighter Agriculture Department safety standards for meat and poultry producers.
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