Tests on samples from Colorado’s third suspected case of E. coli illness found no link to the fouled spinach that has sickened 146 people nationwide, a state health department spokesman said Wednesday.
That leaves at one the number of Colorado residents who have been sickened by eating spinach tainted with the bacteria.
The state laboratory is still awaiting results on tests from two Boulder County residents, said health department spokesman Mark Salley.
As of Wednesday, the outbreak had spread to 23 states, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. One person, a 77-year-old Wisconsin woman, has died, and 76 others have been hospitalized. About a third of those hospitalized have kidney failure, the CDC said.
Tuesday, New Mexico’s public health laboratory isolated E. coli from an opened package of spinach, the CDC reports.
Previously, spinach had only been suspected in the outbreak, based on interviews with patients.
Federal health officials are still advising consumers not to eat any fresh spinach or salad blends containing fresh spinach.
