By: Candess Zona-Mendola of MakeFoodSafe

This week, the CDC announced two E. coli O157 outbreaks in the US. The first outbreak has 21 sick in 8 states, and the second outbreak has 23 sick in 12 states.

Escherichia coli
Image/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

The CDC has not announced a source on either outbreak but has mentioned that the second outbreak “is caused by the same strain of E. coli O157:H7 that caused an outbreak linked to romaine lettuce in 2019.” This means there could likely be another leafy greens Ecoli outbreak. But the CDC is quick to remind the public that food linked to a previous outbreak alone is not enough to prove a link in another outbreak of the same strain.

As the investigations are ongoing to find the source, there are likely more cases pending link to both outbreaks as the time between reporting and outbreak linking could take up to 4 weeks.