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Ohio, Kentucky Report E. Coli Outbreaks Related to Spinach Friday, September 15, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio and Kentucky were added to the list of stateswithh E. coli breakouts related to tainted bags of freshspinachh, bringing the nation's total 10 states reporting illnesses. One fatality has been reported so far.

Seven people who ate bagged spinach have E. coli, Ohio health officials.

Testing found infections in six people in central Ohio and one person in a southwest county, and all of them said in interviews that they had eaten packaged spinach, said Bret Atkins, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health.

Ohio is the ninth state to report cases of E. coli, linked by Food and Drug Administration officials to bagged spinach. One death occurred in Wisconsin.

No deaths have been reported in Ohio. One person infected in Franklin County, which includes Columbus, has developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, in which the red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys fail, Atkins said.

It was unclear how many those infected had been hospitalized. Their ages range from 15 to 46.

Federal health officials have been advising consumers to throw away all fresh bagged spinach because it may be tainted.