At least one person has died as a result of eating romaine lettuce infected with E. coli, federal officials say.
The death was in California, which has the highest number of illnesses in the country. The California Department of Public Health didn’t provide additional details about the death, citing patient privacy laws.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that 23 more people had been infected with E. coli that could be tied to eating romaine. Since the last case count update on April 27, 23 more people have become sick, bringing the total to 121 sicknesses in 25 states.
The states added to the latest count were Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Utah, and the most recent illness reported was on April 21. Data collection can take time to reach the CDC, meaning that there may be several other instances of people getting sick that haven’t been reported.
The strain of E. coli that has circulated causes people to throw up and have bloody diarrhea as well as stomach cramps. It also can cause other severe symptoms, such as a type of kidney failure. The symptoms begin roughly four to five days after people eat the contaminated lettuce, and they are ill for about a week.
Of the people who have become ill, 52 spent time in the hospital, 14 of them with kidney failure.
One of the outbreaks started at a correctional facility in Alaska caused by lettuce that came from the Yuma, Ariz., region. Officials with the Food and Drug Administration and CDC said they are still trying to find out how the lettuce became contaminated with E. coli and that particular batch has not been found to be associated with other outbreaks.
CDC officials have told consumers not to buy or eat lettuce from the Yuma region and to avoid romaine if they don’t know where it’s coming from.
