Health Officials Provide Update on Souplantation Outbreak in California

By: James Peacock

There are now a dozen people sick in an outbreak linked to a Souplantation restaurant in Camarillo, California. The restaurant was closed late last week, on June 22, for the Shigella contamination. Five out of the twelve people who have been diagnosed with Shigellosis required hospitalization due to the severity of their illness. Ten of those sickened are customers, and one employee tested positive for Shigellosis.  One other illness, rounding out the twelve reported cases of Shigellosis, was the result of coming into contact with an ill individual. Because only a few Shigella bacteria are required to cause a case of Shigellosis, cases of illness due to secondary contact are quite common.  Samples taken from ill individuals were sent to the state laboratories for further testing. Although the completion of those tests has not been announced to the public, once completed they will help investigators figure out what type of Shigella is responsible for the outbreak.

For more information about this outbreak, please visit www.unsafefoods.com here.