Chipotle E. Coli outbreak December 2015: 3 more states affected

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The Chipotle E. Coli outbreak is not yet over! The saddest part is that it is getting worse right now as it has already widened to three more states - making it nine states affected all in all, according to Reuters.

The start of the outbreak has been reported in October. However, majority of the cases were reported in November. Now, the outbreak continues and expands to more areas affecting more patients.

The majority of the illnesses reported are in the states of Washington and Oregon. These are also the first two states that reported the initial cases of the outbreak. Aside from the two, there are also seven other states affected. These are Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Minnesota, Maryland, Illinois and California.

The Seattle Times said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that as of now, there are already 52 reported illness. It is up by three affected areas and seven infected individuals from the reported 45 cases in the late November.

Out of the 52 patients, 47 of them confirmed eating at Chipotle restaurants.

Until now, after all the effort exerted by different agencies, it has not yet been confirmed as to what ingredient is the source of this outbreak.

Chipotle has already voluntarily closed 43 restaurants situated in the affected areas. Now, there is still no report whether they will close more restaurants or not.

The New York Times reported about how the stocks of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. The decline of Chipotle stocks has been dramatic - falling nearly 8 percent in after-hours trading.

Before the stocks fell, the Mexican-themed restaurant already confirmed that they experienced decline of sales by about 20 percent after they announced the closing of its 43 restaurants in Oregon and Washington State.

Chris Arnold, Chipotle's spokesman, preferred to keep mum about the company's stock movement. However, he commented about the new reported E. Coli cases. He said it is important to take note that while these are newly reported E. Coli cases, they can't be considered as really new. Considering the fact that the illnesses actually occurred between mid October and early November, it is not a surprise that the reports are just on the process of making their way through.

To prevent another E. Coli outbreak and other foodborne disease, Chipotle launched their brand new food safety program. This program includes the process of testing the quality of food, especially the fresh produce, before sending it to their branches.