The culprit was an especially dangerous variety of E Coli bacteria. Exactly how the bacteria got into the dough has been a mystery. It could have come from any of the ingredients. Or was it the machinery used to prepare the dough? Or the packaging?
The Agent
Escherichia coli is a bacteria that is part of human life. Within the E coli family are many varieties. Some are helpful, breaking down toxic substances and overcoming and squeezing out other potentially dangerous bacteria. Some cause diarrhea, that, while temporarily a great nuisance, usually subsides without permanent harm. Some, however, cause serious bowel bleeding and can cause kidney failure and death.
E. coli O157:H7 is a strain that fits that latter category—possibly toxic to the kidney and possibly fatal. A particular member of the O157:H7 family has been incriminated in the cookie dough disease. The victims almost all had some connection to consuming cookie dough, presumably raw dough.
The Disease
Most victims got abdominal cramps and diarrhea three to four days after exposure to raw cookie dough. The typical incubation period (time from exposure to clinical symptoms) for E coli disease is two to eight days.
Infection from E coli O157:H7 can cause vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. These symptoms are also common in “intestinal flu.” Flu may be associated with headache and muscle aching, while E coli infection usually is not. Flu rarely causes bloody diarrhea.
Clinicians may order a stool culture, but they must indicate they suspect E coli because it requires special tests. CDC also indicates that antibiotic treatment of E coli O157:H7 infection may “promote the development of [severe kidney disease].”
The Victims
Most of the victims were under 19, although one was 57 years old. Most were female. They are in states across the US, from California to Maine, and South Carolina to Washington state. Most of them admitted eating raw cookie dough. (Raw cookie dough is so popular that there are ice creams in that flavor.)
Consumer Advice from CDC
- Never eat raw cookie dough.
- Wash your hands and equipment thoroughly after preparing cookies for the oven.
- People who “have recently eaten prepackaged, refrigerated Toll House cookie dough and have experienced any of these symptoms should contact their doctor or health care provider immediately.”
- If you have a possibly contaminated package of raw cookie dough, don’t even try to bake the cookies. You may get E coli on your hands or kitchen counter and inadvertently get exposed.
E coli live and flourish in the guts of cattle and other animals. E coli infections that are worrisome or dangerous and that affect clusters of people, rather than sporadic occasional cases, usually come from eating poorly cooked hamburger, unpasteurized milk, or vegetables that presumably have been contaminated by animal feces. These are the first cases that CDC has reported from cookie dough.
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