Students of Boston College, including players of the men’s basketball team, fell ill after dining at a Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant in Cleveland Circle.
According to Boston College last Monday, several students reported experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms. Their common denominator: they had all eaten at the popular burrito chain restaurant over the weekend.
Chipotle announced the temporary closure of the said restaurant while it coordinates with local health officials in investigations. In an email, spokesperson Chris Arnold also denied the link of the stomach issues to E.coli.
"We do not have any evidence to suggest that this incident is related to the previous E.coli incident. There are no confirmed cases of E. coli connected to Chipotle in Massachusetts,” he said.
Boston College issued a statement on Monday and said the Massachusetts Department of Public Health is still determining the incident’s connection “to the ongoing national outbreak of E.coli.” The health office received over 20 reports from BC students.
A BC coach, however, was said to have confirmed the culprit behind the food poisoning that caused some players to miss a Dec. 6 game: “[T]here are eight players on the team confirmed to have E.coli.”
The BC Eagles lost to their opponent UMass Lowell on Sunday – their fifth straight loss after starting the season 3-0. They were without players Dennis Clifford, who was sick, and Eli Carter, who had an ankle injury.
It usually takes three to four days after ingesting the E.coli bacteria for one to feel sick, but that period could be as short as a day or as long as 10, warned the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The symptoms often start out slow, such as mild stomach pain or non-bloody diarrhea that becomes worse over the succeeding days.
Chipotle had been under fire in the U.S. for E.coli outbreaks that had spread into nine states, with 47 out of the 52 sick individuals having said they ate at the chain restaurant.
The states with reported cases are California, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
Stock prices of Chipotle were also down six percent in Monday’s extended trading.
Photo: Mike Mozart | Flickr
