Health Tips: How your salad might be giving you explosive, bloody Diarrhea

Preliminary testing of the bacteria showed that the bugs in both countries were closely related genetically, meaning they likely share a common source of infection.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced they were investigating a 13-state outbreak of E. coli, a bacteria often transmitted through food that can cause serious illness.

The outbreak hit Canada too, as the country's public health agency reported, bringing the total number of verified cases in both countries to 58.

Symptoms of E.coli infection generally start three to four days after exposure to the bug, but can pop up anywhere from one to 10 days after the fact. They include things like severe stomach cramping, diarrhea—which can become bloody as your illnesses continues—vomiting, and fever.

Preliminary testing of the bacteria showed that the bugs in both countries were closely related genetically, meaning they likely share a common source of infection.

So what is the source? Well, the CDC says it’s too early to know for sure, since they are still researching what the people ate before they got sick. But Public Health Canada did say that the source of their outbreak is romaine lettuce, though the cause of the contamination is still unknown.

As a result, Public Health Canada is recommending that people consider eating other types of lettuce instead, since it’s possible contaminated romaine lettuce may still be available on the market.

Because the CDC doesn’t know for sure that romaine lettuce is the cause here, the agency stopped short of issuing a recommendation for people here to avoid it. But the safety experts at Consumer Reportsare advising that we follow Canada’s lead and stop eating romaine lettuce until the exact cause is ID’ed.

“The available data strongly suggest that romaine lettuce is the source of the U.S. outbreak,” Jean Halloran, Director of Food Policy Initiatives at Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization division of Consumer Reports, said in the piece. “If so, and people aren’t warned, more may get sick.”

Since no one’s sure what romaine lettuce may be affected, the recommendation applies to any available romaine lettuce product on shelves now, including those in packages and bags—even salad blends and mixes that may contain just a bit of romaine. Washing the greens likely won’t remove all the bacteria, either.

The abundance of caution comes in part because romaine lettuce is almost always eaten raw, according to Consumer Reports. So if the lettuce is infected—either due to fecal contamination in the fields where it’s grown, or a sick person handling the lettuce during processing without washing his or her hands first—it’s more likely to get you sick, since you won’t be heating it up to germ-killing levels.

Anybody can get sick with E. coli, though young children, older adults, and people with a weakened immune system are more at risk, the CDC says.

If you’re worried about getting sick, it may be safest to heed the advice of Public Health Canada and Consumer Reports by avoiding romaine lettuce until a cause of contamination for the outbreak is identified. But you don’t need to stop eating salad—simply switch to other greens instead, like baby spinach. Or try this post-workout muscle salad, which uses arugula as its base.

Preliminary testing of the bacteria showed that the bugs in both countries were closely related genetically, meaning they likely share a common source of infection. Read Full Story