Pittsburgh eatery reopening after E. coli scare
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A city restaurant reopened Thursday after voluntarily closing two nights before because three workers and two customers have recently been sickened by E. coli bacteria.
Allegheny County Health Department officials continued to search for a cause of the illnesses at The Porch at Schenley, where the illnesses have cropped up since Oct. 1.
The restaurant has changed its meat vendor as a precaution, and a restaurant spokeswoman, Pam Ritz, said the business was reopening after a “front-to-back cleaning,” even though officials still don’t know how the victims were infected.
“The challenge right now it trying to find out where the source of the infection is,” county health department director Dr. Karen Hacker said.
“At this time we’re not saying it was food,” health department spokesman Guillermo Cole added.
E. coli, which can cause severe gastrointestinal problems, is often found in tainted beef, but can also be transmitted if an infected person doesn’t properly wash their hands before handling food. Four of the five who were ill had to be hospitalized, but all are recovering.
The restaurant is cooperating with the investigation and has set up a hotline to answer customers’ questions.
Anyone with symptoms, which include severe cramping and bloody diarrhea, should contact their doctor, Hacker said. The health department wants doctors to test people with such symptoms for E. coli, to account for anyone else who may have been sickened in the outbreak.