McDonald's hamburgers have been linked to deadly E. coli outbreak in the US

A McDonald's sandwich has made people sick in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

E. coli, a type of bacteria that can cause serious stomach problems, has been found in McDonald's Quarter Pounder sandwiches, the CDC announced Tuesday.

So far, the CDC has recorded 49 cases of the disease in 10 states. In ten cases, patients had to be hospitalized and one person died.

According to the CDC, most cases have been recorded in Western and Midwestern states.

According to a statement from the CDC, the fast food restaurant is working with investigators to determine what ingredients caused the outbreak.

“McDonald's has withdrawn the ingredients for these burgers and they are not available for sale in some states,” the agency said.

“It is not yet known which specific food ingredient is contaminated,” the CDC added, noting that McDonald's has already “stopped using fresh onion slices and quarter-pound beef patties in several states.”

The CDC said the sliced ​​onions are believed to be the likely source of the contamination, and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigators are working to determine whether the onions were sold to another company.

No recalls have yet been issued by the CDC or other health and food regulatory agencies.

The first case was registered on September 27th, investigators say. The victims were between 13 and 88 years old.

Of the 10 people hospitalized, one person developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition that can lead to kidney failure.

Another person, whom the CDC described as an “older adult in Colorado,” died after eating at McDonald's.

Cases have been reported in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Shares of McDonald's fell about 9% on the New York Stock Exchange after the news broke Tuesday.

In a statement, McDonald's said a preliminary investigation has determined “that a subset of illnesses may be associated with the onion slivers used in Quarter Pounder, which are purchased from a single supplier serving three distribution centers.”

The Chicago-based company added that it had directed all local restaurants to “remove this product from their offerings” and had stopped shipping slivered onions to the region.

The sandwich will also be temporarily removed from the menu in several states, the company said, adding: “We take food safety extremely seriously and it is the right thing to do.”

Other beef products will remain on the menu, Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald's USA, said in a video message.

“At McDonald's you can count on us to do the right thing,” he said.

E. coli is a diverse group of bacteria that normally lives in the intestines of humans and animals.

Although many are harmless, some produce toxins that can make you sick.

Symptoms include severe and sometimes bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting and fever.

It usually takes a few days after infection for symptoms to appear.

This is not the first E. coli outbreak to affect McDonald's in recent years.

In 2022, six children in Alabama became ill with E. coli after eating Chicken McNuggets.

Four children were hospitalized. Health inspectors later visited the affected restaurant and found several violations, including improper handwashing and lack of gloves.