A Canadian woman was recently hospitalized after eating spinach from the United States tainted with E. coli bacteria according to a Canadian Food Inspection Agency spokesman.
In an interview with AFP, it is reported that the strain killed one woman and made 172 people ill in 25 US states in recent months, prompting a massive dumping of spinach from store shelves throughout the continent.
Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacteria causes diarrhea, often with bloody stool. Although most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, some people’s kidneys fail from hemolytic uremic syndrome.
Ninety-two Americans have been hospitalized since the first case was reported on August 2, US officials said, and a large number of them have experienced some degree of kidney failure.
In the United States, an estimated 73,000 cases of E. coli infection, 61 of which end in death, occur each year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
North of the border, the CFIA advised consumers not to eat fresh US spinach, "including bagged, loose in bulk or in salad blends."