Another 12 people have been sickened with potentially deadly bacteria in an outbreak that has been linked to chicken wraps.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported the cases Friday, bringing the total number of infections recorded in the outbreak to 50.
This marked a surge of 32 percent from a week ago, and doubled the tally on September 23 when the FDA announced it was investigating the outbreak.
The patients were infected with the E.coli strain O157:H7, which can cause a severe intestinal infection and kidney damage. The same strain was behind a major McDonald’s recall in 2024 that led to one death and 34 hospitalizations.
Investigators have not confirmed the source of the outbreak, but multi-ingredient chicken wraps have been named as the suspected source.
Health officials say the wraps are no longer for sale in the US as they have passed their sell-by date.
Tracing work is now underway to determine whether any ingredients in the wraps may have been used in other products that could still be on shelves.
No further details on the outbreak were revealed, including the names of the chicken wraps, where they were sold, where in the US patients were sickened and whether any were hospitalized.
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A total of 50 people have been sickened in the outbreak. Investigators are not certain of the source, but have linked the cases to multi-ingredient chicken wraps
The FDA reported the new cases linked to the outbreak in an update posted Friday.
The agency said it had taken samples from the chicken wraps for testing and was carrying out inspections and contact tracing to detect further patients.
It also was not clear what ingredient in the chicken wraps may have caused the sicknesses.
In the McDonald’s outbreak in 2024 linked to the chain’s quarterpounders, testing showed that sliced onions used in the burgers had been contaminated with E.coli. McDonald’s stopped serving onions in the burgers for a period before securing a new supply of onions that were not contaminated with the bacteria.
The FDA is currently tracking seven foodborne outbreaks in the US.
The outbreak linked to multi-ingredient chicken wraps is the second-largest. The largest is an outbreak where 116 people have been sickened with salmonella. The source of this outbreak has not yet been identified.
E.coli is transmitted by consuming contaminated food and water, such as undercooked meat, raw milk, unpasteurized juice, and leafy greens.
Early symptoms of an infection include abdominal cramps, watery diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and fever. In some cases, patients also suffer from bloody diarrhea and dehydration which, in rare cases, can be fatal.
In an infection with the E.coli strain O157:H7, patients are at higher risk of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a potentially life-long kidney complication, which affects about five to 10 percent of patients.
Anyone can be infected with E. coli, but children under five years old, adults over 65 years old and people who have weakened immune systems are more at risk from the infection.
Roughly 75,000 to 90,000 Americans are infected with the O157:H7 strain of E. coli every year and about 100 die from the disease.
In some cases, an E. coli infection can resolve in a few days without treatment. In cases where symptoms persist, doctors may prescribe antibiotics to clear the infection or put a patient on an intravenous drip to replace lost fluids.