The CDC stated that they have received reports of at least 35 cases in 11 states including Washington, Idaho, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri, Connecticut and New Jersey. The highest concentration of outbreaks occurred in Pennsylvania, Idaho and New Jersey, which had nine, eight and seven, respectively.

After interviewing 28 of the 35 victims, the CDC found that one common link in their stories was romaine lettuce. The CDC is now warning Americans not to buy romaine lettuce for the time being and to throw out any romaine lettuce that they have previously bought.

The CDC have also asked consumers to pay attention to where the lettuce originated.

“Outbreak Alert: E.coli outbreak linked to chopped romaine lettuce. Before you buy or eat chopped romaine lettuce at stores or restaurants, ask to make sure it is not from the Yuma, Arizona growing region. If they don’t know, don’t buy or eat it,” the CDC stated.

The CDC has traced the contamination back to a facility in Yuma, Arizona, but the investigation is still ongoing and more contaminations could be found.

In 22 of the cases, people have been hospitalized, and three of them have developed kidney failure as a result of the infection which can lead to death in some severe cases. The CDC also reported that additional cases of E-coli poisoning from lettuce were coming in earlier this year. In fact, these reports began in mid-November of 2017 and have continued through the first months of 2018.

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