Health Law

Shigella Outbreak Update: Lombard Subway

By Drew Falkenstein

The Shigella outbreak at the Lombard, Illinois Subway restaurant has sickened well over one hundred people, and has left the restaurant shuttered for weeks pending the Dupage County Health Department's investigation.  Reports widely suggest that one of the problems leading to the outbreak was sick foodhandlers (i.e. employees) at the restaurant.  We have been contacted by over 70 of the outbreak victims and have filed lawsuits on behalf of Ron and Sarah Bowers, Barbara Romero, and Michael Carpino.  See Subway Lawsuits and Foodpoisoning Claims.

The illnesses that our clients have suffered are proof, once again, that foodpoisoning is far from just a few days of diarrhea.  Certainly, some of the people sickened in the outbreak have suffered "run-of-the-mill" food borne illnesses, but most continue to struggle with ongoing gastrointestinal symptoms, reactive arthritis, post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome, and other ongoing, possibly permanent, conditions related to their illnesses. 

It is also proof of the wide-ranging impact of infectious disease, and how virulent and dangerous these little bugs can be, leading ultimatly to a cost of $152 billion every single year in the United States.  In addition to many people who consumed sandwiches from the Lombard Subway, we represent the family-members of several outbreak victims who also became ill (known as secondary infections). 

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on March 24, 2010 (boomark / email).