Today the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (“CDPHE”) and several Denver metropolitan area public health departments released a report of their investigation of an outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli O157:H7) that occurred in October 2013 at Denver Jimmy John’s restaurants.

Nine cases were identified, including 1 probable case and 8 laboratory-confirmed cases with matching pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multiple-locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) patterns from E. coli O157:H7 isolated from stool. All 9 cases reported eating sandwiches at Denver-area Jimmy John’s locations in early October 2013.

The outbreak investigation consisted of case finding and interviews, 2 separate case-control studies, environmental investigations, produce traceback, and laboratory testing. The results of this investigation indicate that consumption of Jimmy John’s sandwiches containing cucumbers imported from Mexico was the likely cause of the outbreak. As of the date of this report, no other cases of E. coli O157:H7 with the PFGE pattern combination seen in this outbreak were reported in Colorado.  See PowerPoint PDF.  And, its not like Jimmy John’s has not been in this position – BEFORE.