Ground beef is the suspected source of an ongoing E. coli O145 outbreak. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS) has opened an investigation into the outbreak but the agency has not yet provided key information such as how many people are sick or where the meat was sold or served. One thing that is known is that E. coli O145, while not as common as the notorious serovar E. coli O157:H7, is just as dangerous.
That’s because both serotypes belong to a group of bacteria that produce Shiga-toxins which are poisonous to humans. Seven of these serotypes account for most STEC illnesses reported in the U.S. each year, they are: O157:H7, O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145.
Symptoms of a STEC infection, which usually develop within three days of exposure, include abdominal cramps and diarrhea that can be bloody. These infections can also trigger dangerous complications such as hemorrhagic colitis, hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP).
Since 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced 41 multistate E. coli outbreaks. Of those, just two were associated with E. coli O145. A food source was identified in one of them, an E. coli O145 outbreak linked to shredded lettuce, produced by Freshway Foods, that sickened people in Michigan, Ohio, New York, and Tennessee. Three people developed HUS including one of the clients represented by Pritzker Hageman E. coli lawyers.
If you recently developed an E. coli O145 infection from contaminated ground beef and would like a free consultation with an experienced E. coli lawyer please contact the Pritzker Hageman E. coli Legal Team. We have represented clients in every major E. coli outbreak in the U.S. You can reach us by calling 1-888-377-8900, sending a text to 612-261-0856, or by completing the form below. There is no obligation and we don’t get paid unless we win.
