Public health officials are continuing to investigate an outbreak of Shigella infections traced to a restaurant in Illinois. The patient count has increased to 24, with an additional 44 people reporting symptoms.
The St. Clair County Health Department reports that nine of the patients have required hospitalization because their symptoms are severe.
The outbreak has been traced to the Longhorn Steakhouse in Fairview, IL.
Sick people dined at the restaurant between Sept. 20 and 30. It can take some time after exposure to the Shigella bacteria for symptoms of infection to develop. Testing with confirmation testing further delays the addition of patients to the overall count.
Patients in the outbreak range in age from 12 to 80 years old, according to the health department.
The restaurant was temporarily closed for cleaning and sanitization after the outbreak was discovered. The local health department has preformed environmental assessments of the restaurant and provided corrective actions and guidance in consultation with the state health department.
The local health department continues to receive test results from patrons and restaurant staff. Restaurant staff are required to have two negative results for Shigella infection at least 24 hours apart prior to being released to return to work at the establishment. The department has issued an alert to area physicians about the outbreak, providing guidance for patients that exhibited symptoms similar to those of Shigellosis.
Shigella infection or Shigellosis symptoms usually start one to two days after infection and last seven days. Shigella spreads easily; swallowing just a small amount of Shigella germs can cause severe illness. Shigella germs are in feces, so anything that gets contaminated with even microscopic amounts by feces, including when hands not properly or thoroughly cleaned, can potentially spread the infection. Shigella can spread from one person to another or through contaminated water, food, surfaces, or objects.
Routinely cleaning and sanitizing kitchen utensils, counters and surfaces before preparing food can reduce the risk of all germs. Good hygiene practices are equally important whether or not food is being prepared, according to the health department.
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