E. coli infections linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers rise to 90, CDC says

The number of cases of E. coli bacteria infections linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers increased to 90, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Wednesday. Last Friday that number was 75.

Sliced ​​onions used in burgers are the “likely source” of the outbreak, the CDC said.

A spokesman for fast-food chain McDonald’s said all hamburgers Quarter Pounders of affected states had been removed from restaurants on October 22, when the outbreak was first announced. The CDC said any additional risk to the public is “very low.”

On Sunday, Colorado Department of Agriculture officials ruled out beef burgers used in Quarter Pounders as the source of the outbreak after tests found no traces of E. coli.

According to the CDC, one person has died during the outbreak and 27 have been hospitalized so far. At least two people developed a rare kidney disease called hemolytic uremic syndrome, including a 15-year-old girl from Grand Junction, Colorado.

Initial symptoms The high school freshman’s illness—fever and stomach pain—began a few days after she made several trips to her local McDonald’s to buy a quarter-pound hamburger. He had vomiting and bloody diarrhea.

Since then she has been hospitalized with kidney damage and has had to undergo multiple sessions of dialysis.

The actual number of cases involving Quarter Pounders is likely much higher than the 90 reported so far. Most people infected with E. coli are never tested for the bacteria and recover on their own.

thirteen states Cases have been reported: Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also said that sliced ​​onions, supplied by food producer Taylor Farms Colorado Springs, are the most likely source of contamination.

According to McDonald’s, 900 restaurants in 12 states received Taylor Farms onions.

The restaurant chain stated that stopped supplying onions from the company indefinitely last Friday. McDonald’s will begin selling the quarter-pound burgers without the onions in affected stores this week.

Other restaurant chains in Colorado, including Taco Bell, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut and Pete’s Illegal, removed onions from their menus as a precaution. There is no indication that other people have contracted E. coli after eating at those establishments.