According to the Santa Clara, Calif., County Health Department, there are now 93 people with illnesses linked to the Mariscos San Juan seafood restaurant in downtown San Jose, Calif., which is still closed, reported Food Safety News.
Deputy Health Officer Dr. George Han and Michael Balliet, director of environmental health for the department’s Consumer Protection Division, said Wednesday that the number of those sickened had increased by 13 from Tuesday.
Previous coverage follows:
Mariscos San Juan at 205 N. 4th St. in downtown San Jose, CA, was closed Oct. 18 after the Santa Clara County Public Health Department connected the seafood restaurant with an outbreak of Shigella that reportedly may have sickened at least 80 people.
The restaurant remains closed, and Santa Clara health officials say 11 of the Shigellavictims have been treated in intensive care units at area hospitals.
All of those stricken with the intestinal infection that causes fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea report dining at the San Jose restaurant on either the previous Friday or Saturday.
Shigella is a pathogen that usually can be treated successfully with antibiotics. Local health officials said Monday that they expect the number of those sickened will grow, and they issued a request for action by all clinicians in the area.
Clinicians treating suspected Shigella patients are being asked to test stool cultures and order antimicrobial susceptibility testing and blood cultures if the person is hospitalized. Doctors were also asked to “tailor therapy based on results of susceptibility testing, recognizing that routine antimicrobial susceptibility tests for Shigellamay not include some commonly available oral antibiotics.”
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