Posted by hans on June 23, 1998 at 18:52:36:
Tainted potato salad makes 4,000 sick
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A form of E-coli bacteria that causes diarrhea appears to be
the source of a food poisoning (actually food born illness)outbreak that affected 4,000 people in the Chicago
area, health officials said Tuesday.
The infection was traced to a large amount of potato salad prepared by a catering
company earlier this month, the Cook County Department of Public Health said.
The form of E-coli involved is not as virulent as strains which have caused deaths
and severe illnesses from meat and other foods elsewhere in the United States in
recent years.
The Georgia Division of Public Health said Monday it is investigating a more serious
outbreak in that state that has put six children in the hospital in the past week, some of
them in critical condition.
The source of that outbreak remained undetermined.
Officials in Wisconsin were also investigating an E-coli outbreak there affecting more
than two dozen people that may have originated in a cheese factory.
The form of E-coli involved in the Chicago-area outbreak causes watery diarrhea,
fever and nausea but usually no life-threatening conditions, health officials said. The
potato salad was served at parties beginning June 6.
David Rapoport, a lawyer, said Tuesday he planned to file a class action suit on
behalf of all those affected by the Chicago incident, to win compensation for lost work
and medical expenses. The suit will be filed against the caterer, Iwans Deli.
He said he represented a family who held a college graduation party, after which a
number of guests became sick, including two elderly women and a 10-month-old girl
who were more seriously affected and for whom separate suits will be filed.
He said the incident is the largest food-related illnesses in the Chicago area since the
early 1980s when salmonella-tainted milk from a dairy affected 17,000 people, mostly
children.