Nine Clark County residents are among the nearly two dozen people sickened by E. coli linked to regional Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants.
The cluster of E. coli cases spreads across two states — 19 cases in Washington, three in Oregon — and involves six counties. With nine cases, Clark County has reported more illnesses than the other counties.
And those numbers are likely to increase as local and state health officials continue their investigations, said Dr. Jennifer Vines, Cowlitz County health officer and acting Clark County health officer. Clark County Health Officer Dr. Alan Melnick is out of town attending a national public health conference.
“This is a rapidly evolving investigation,” Vines said.
The local patients are one teenager, four people in their 20s, two in their 30s, one in his or her 40s and one in his or her 60s. More specifics were not released. Each ate at a Chipotle restaurant between Oct. 14 and Oct. 23, Vines said.
One of the nine patients was hospitalized, but has since been released, Vines said.
Most of the Clark County residents who became ill ate at the Hazel Dell Chipotle restaurant, 7715 N.E. Fifth Ave., Suite 109, Vines said.
“Clark County Public Health detected the clear association with the Hazel Dell Chipotle as early as last Thursday,” she said.
As a result, public health officials closed the restaurant on Thursday. On Friday, health officials learned about the larger outbreak involving several Chipotle restaurants in the region, Vines said.
Some of the local cases have been linked to the Cascade Station restaurant near Portland International Airport. No illnesses have been linked to the Chipotle in east Vancouver, Vines said.
In response to the outbreak, however, Chipotle voluntarily closed 43 of its restaurants in Washington and Oregon as a precaution, including both Clark County locations.
Based on the number of Chipotle restaurants involved, health officials suspect the outbreak is caused by contaminated food, as opposed to poor employee hygiene practices or cross-contamination at a restaurant, Vines said. At the top of the suspect list are foods that are served fresh, such as produce, she said.
The source of contamination has not yet been identified and remains under investigation, according to state health officials.
If past illness outbreaks are any indication, identifying the exact cause of the illness will be challenging.
Three years ago, Clark County health officials investigated a salmonella outbreak at another local Mexican restaurant that sickened more than 80 people. Many of the meals people reported eating before becoming ill had the same components — such as lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese and sour cream — which made tracing the bacteria to a particular food item difficult, Melnick said at the time.
That restaurant was allowed to reopen, even though health officials never did pinpoint the source of the outbreak.
With the current Chipotle outbreak, Vines said Clark County Public Health will follow the lead of the state health department, which is heading the investigation, in determining when it’s safe for the local Chipotle restaurants to reopen.
7 hospitalized in state
All of the Washington residents who have gotten ill ate at Chipotle restaurants on or after Oct. 12. Of the 19 people sickened in Washington, seven have been hospitalized. One Oregon patient was hospitalized as well. No deaths have been linked to the outbreak, according to state health officials.
Some types of E. coli can cause bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever and vomiting. Those symptoms can sometimes result in severe illnesses. E. coli may be fatal, according to state health officials.
Most people begin to show symptoms within one to 10 days after being infected, with the average being between three and four days. Most illnesses resolve on their own within seven days. Some people exposed to the bacteria develop minor symptoms or no symptoms, according to health officials.
Health officials suspect the outbreak numbers will grow as more people learn about the outbreak. Some people who had only minor symptoms and didn’t seek medical care may now see their doctors and be tested for E. coli, Vines said.
“I think we’ll probably start to see more cases,” she said. “But time will tell.”
Third outbreak
The current E. coli outbreak marks the third foodborne illness outbreak involving Chipotle restaurants this year, according to Associated Press reports.
A salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes sickened dozens of people in Minnesota in August. And in California, norovirus sickened nearly 100 customers and employees at a Simi Valley restaurant in mid-August, according to state health officials.
In Clark County, the Hazel Dell Chipotle restaurant was closed by public health officials in September after 19 people were sickened by norovirus. A woman alerted Clark County Public Health to a potential outbreak on Aug. 31, when she and several colleagues got sick after attending a work party catered by the restaurant, said Joe Laxson, public health program manager.
A public health investigation revealed 15 customers and four employees with norovirus, Laxson said. No hospitalizations or prolonged illness were reported, he said.
Health officials ordered deep cleaning of the facility and illness screening for food workers, Laxson said. Health officials were unable to pinpoint the exact source of the outbreak, he said.
