ACCORDING TO THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE ON September 2, 2006:

The San Diego county health department has shut down a fast-food Mexican restaurant after 10 customers came down with a bacterial infection.  Filiberto’s restaurant at 3446 University Ave. was closed Thursday and will remain closed until the health problems are addressed, the county Health and Human Services Agency said.

The agency said 10 customers who ate at Filiberto’s Aug. 24-28 came down with what appears to be the food-borne bacteria Shigella, which causes fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. It is infectious.  Three of the 10 were hospitalized with serious symptoms, county public health officer Dr. Nancy Bowen said.

Shigella is a bacterium that can cause sudden and severe diarrhea (gastroenteritis) in humans. Shigellosis is the name of the disease that Shigella causes. The illness is also known as “bacillary dysentery.” Shigella bacteria can infect the intestinal tract after the ingestion of relatively few organisms. This is why shigellosis is the most communicable of the bacterial-induced diarrheas.

Marler Clark has been involved in litigation on behalf of victims of numerous Shigella outbreaks.  For more information on prior outbreaks, see http://www.marlerclark.com/news-shigella.htm.  We have been contacted by 2 of the 10 customers of this San Diego Shigella outbreak.