An E. coli outbreak in Washington State and Oregon has sickened 37 people as of yesterday, ABC News reports. All those that fell ill had reported eating at Chipotle, and the restaurant chain has closed 43 outlets in the area.
Scott Lindquist, Washington's state epidemiologist, says the outbreak has been linked to the Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O26.
ABC News notes that as Chipotle uses traceability software to follow the ingredients it uses from the farm to the table, pinpointing which ingredient is the contaminated one may be easier. At the same time, state health officials are conducting tests on human waste and on any E. coli isolated from food samples to look for a DNA match. This, Lindquist says, should also help determine which bit of produce was contaminated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that multi-state outbreaks have increased in recent years, due in part to better detection as well as to increased consolidation of the food industry that allow tainted food toe spread more widely, ABC News adds.