The Centers For Disease Control has reported the first death associated with the romaine lettuce from the Yuma, AZ, growing region contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

According to reports from the CDC and U.S. Food And Drug Administration, 121 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported from 25 states.

Of those, 52 people have been hospitalized, including 14 people who have developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome. The one death was reported from California.

Just one person from Illinois has been confirmed to have gotten sick from the contaminated romaine lettuce.

The most recent illness started on April 21, 2018. Illnesses that occurred in the last two to three weeks might not yet be reported because of the time between when a person becomes ill with E. coli and when the illness is reported to CDC.

Advice to Consumers

• Do not eat or buy romaine lettuce unless you can confirm it is not from the Yuma, Arizona growing region.
• Product labels often do not identify growing regions; so, do not eat or buy romaine lettuce if you do not know where it was grown.
• This advice includes whole heads and hearts of romaine, chopped romaine, baby romaine, organic romaine, and salads and salad mixes containing romaine lettuce. If you do not know if the lettuce in a salad mix is romaine, do not eat it.

Advice to Restaurants and Retailers

• Do not serve or sell any romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region. This includes whole heads and hearts of romaine, chopped romaine, baby romaine, organic romaine, and salads and salad mixes containing romaine lettuce.
• Restaurants and retailers should ask their suppliers about the source of their romaine lettuce.

How to Report a Foodborne Illness — General Public

Contact your the Kane County Health Department if you believe you or someone you know became ill from eating a certain food. Ask to speak with the environmental health specialist, or sanitarian, about a possible food problem.

Reporting illnesses to your local health department helps them identify potential foodborne disease outbreaks. Public health officials learn about possible problems in food preparation, production, and distribution that may cause illness during investigations of foodborne disease outbreaks.

To ontact CDC about a Foodborne Illness, call CDC INFO at 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636).