The E. coli breakout that has been sweeping the nation hit the University this week as third-year Commerce student Adam Hermida spent last Tuesday at the University of Virginia Medical Center and was diagnosed with the illness.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has announced 171 cases of illness due to E. coli as of Saturday, Sept. 23.
Ninety-two people, including Hermida, have been hospitalized due to this outbreak and one has died so far.
"There's been a lot of effort to make sure people know what's being done," CDC spokesperson Van Roebuck said.
The CDC created a hotline to answer questions for concerned consumers.
"We're working really closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and many state health departments," Roebuck said.
Hermida bought a mixed baby green salad from Harris Teeter Sept. 11.
"That's what the doctors said [the E.coli] was from," he said. "I wasn't really aware of the outbreak when I ate it."
He explained he was already starting to feel sick by the time he began hearing news that spinach was causing E. coli problems across the country but assumed the two were unrelated.
Hermida started feeling ill last Sunday, Sept. 17. He went to the emergency room late that night and was released with antibiotics.
"[The antibiotics] only made it worse," Hermida said. "I couldn't eat or drink anything ... I was completely dehydrated."
He returned to the hospital Tuesday, where the staff diagnosed him with a bacterial infection and later identified it as E. coli, releasing him a day later.
Jennifer Panetta, director of communications for Harris Teeter, said this was the first instance she has heard of anyone getting E. coli from products from their stores.
"As soon as the FDA recommended consumers not eat fresh spinach, we immediately pulled it off our shelves," Panetta said.
The CDC's website offers more information about the outbreak.
Most healthy adults can get over the illness within a week. However, in some cases, usually elderly and young people, E. coli can cause kidney failure, which can lead to death.
Cooked, canned or frozen spinach is usually free from the disease. If diarrhea develops after eating spinach, the CDC recommends contacting medical help immediately.
After being released from the hospital, Hermida was contacted by the Virginia Department of Health, which was investigating the infection. Hermida said he still doesn't even know what strain of E. coli he had, though he has been feeling fine since Saturday.
"I'm back to normal now," Hermida said.
Roebuck said he doesn't know if the outbreak is getting worse or better. "It's a day-to-day investigation," Roebuck said.
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