Some Bad Apple Cider May Have Caused An Illness Outbreak In Western Illinois

By Kate Shepherd in News on Nov 6, 2015 6:37PM

Photo via Shutterstock.

It doesn't get much more fall than apple cider but a bad batch may have made people ill in western Illinois.

More than 60 people who attended the Pike County Color Drive last month have similar gastrointestinal symptoms and several have been hospitalized, according to the AP. Health officials suspect apple cider from the festival is the common culprit.

The apple cider could have been tainted with E. coli bacteria or a microscopic parasite called cryptosporidium, according to officials in Pike and Adams counties. If apple cider is behind the outbreak, contaminated water may have been used to make it, Adams County Health Department Communicable Disease Coordinator Jon Campos told WGEM.

The owner of Free Press Coffee in Pittsfield Jane Ann Petty has been attending the festival for the past decade and she's not surprised about the outbreak. When food is served in an unrestricted environment, an outbreak can happen, she told WGEM.

The Illinois Department of Public Health is helping the counties with the investigation.