Clarissa DeBrock is suing McDonald’s after she ate one of the fast food giant’s famous burgers and was hospitalized with E. coli.
Ms. DeBrock, 33, consumed a quarter pounder with her fiancé and two-year-old son Kai at their local McDonald’s in North Platte, Nebraska, last month.
The hamburger looked and tasted normal, but five days later she began to suffer from abdominal cramps, diarrhea and nausea. His symptoms became so severe that on September 25 he went to the emergency room.
Tests showed she had been infected with the E. coli O157:H7 strain, the same one linked to the recent outbreak at the world’s largest fast food chain.
The CDC has reported 49 E. coli cases linked to the outbreak in 10 states, including 10 people who were hospitalized and one person who died between September 27 and October 11.
Investigators believe the E. coli outbreak is due to onions used in McDonald’s Quarter Pounders, and the company has removed both products from restaurants while officials investigate.
Clarissa DeBrock, a 33-year-old Nebraska mother, is suing McDonald’s saying she believes its quarter pounders caused her illness.
Burger onions (pictured) have been at the center of an investigation into an E. coli outbreak that has so far sickened 49 people, hospitalized ten and left one dead.
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Ms. DeBock, a receptionist at a local surgery center, said NBC News: ‘I realized something was wrong because of the cramps, simply because they were so bad.
“You get cramps with the flu and stuff, but it was different.”
He added: “I guess it’s scary, just because you trust them as a fast food place.” “You are trusting them to provide you with safe food.”
Mrs. DeBock, who has now largely recovered, said she was grateful her two-year-old son had not been infected. Kair and her fiancé ate separately.
He is now suing McDonald’s to obtain compensation for lost wages, medical bills, and physical and emotional suffering.
While the CDC is aware of 49 cases of E. coli, food safety experts have warned that the outbreak is likely more widespread due to a delay in symptoms. Some cases can also be treated at home and go away within a few days, meaning they go undiagnosed and unreported. However, health officials are concerned that the bacteria behind it could cause long-term damage to the body.
Trevor Craig, food safety expert at Microbac Laboratories in Pennsylvania, told DailyMail.com: ‘O157 is much quicker than listeria, people can get sick from it within a couple of days.
“But it also has the potential to cause some permanent changes in the body, which is more serious than what we normally see with listeria.”
He said it could cause permanent damage to the kidneys, which could leave patients needing dialysis (or blood cleansing) three times a week for the rest of their lives.
In the United States, about 265,000 people get sick from E. coli each year and more than 100 people die from the disease, according to health chiefs.
Infections are most commonly caused by eating contaminated foods, such as ground meat (where a contaminated part of an animal’s intestine has entered the supply), vegetables, which may have been raised with contaminated water, and unpasteurized milk.
The receptionist is demanding compensation for lost wages, medical bills, and physical and emotional suffering.
Older adults, young children, and those with underlying illnesses are at particular risk of contracting the bacteria because they have weakened immune systems.
Patients usually begin to suffer symptoms three or four days after becoming infected, although they can begin more than a week later.
These include diarrhea, stomach cramps, and nausea, which may go away within a few days.
However, if people begin to experience persistent, severe, or bloody diarrhea, it is recommended that they seek emergency care.
Ms. DeBock is suing McDonald’s to obtain compensation for lost wages, medical bills, and physical and emotional suffering. He doesn’t think the restaurant chain with 13,500 locations should have put it in danger.
Their lawsuit was filed by Ron Simon and Associates, and is the law firm’s second, after one was also filed for a man in Colorado earlier this week who also believes he contracted E. coli from a McDonald’s burger.
The CDC revealed the outbreak on Tuesday, with most cases reported in Colorado, Utah, Nebraska and Wyoming.
An investigation has focused on the chopped onions used in Quarter Pounders, although it is unclear how they may have been contaminated.
Experts suggest that the onions may have been treated with water contaminated with animal feces, causing them to become infected. E. coli outbreaks are frequently due to contact with feces from animal intestines.
The chopped onions were recalled Thursday by California-based supplier Taylor Farms.
Yesterday, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC also revealed they would be removing onions from their menu as a “proactive” measure. There have been no indications at this time that his restaurants are linked to any illness. Burger King also joined the measure.
The president of McDonald’s in the United States on Wednesday told consumers to continue ordering food at its restaurants, saying the chain had taken “swift action.”
Joe Erlinger said in an interview: ‘We’re very confident that you can go to McDonald’s and enjoy our classics.
‘This was quick and decisive action on our part, and it is the quarter pounder and two ingredients in that quarter pounder that are under investigation by the CDC.
“That’s why I want to tell our customers that they can confidently go to McDonald’s today.”
