Nearly 20 Hospitalized After Getting Sick at Birthday Potluck Party

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Nearly 20 people are hospitalized and several others sick after a shigella outbreak in East Charlotte. The patients contracted the highly contagious disease after eating at a potluck birthday party.

100 people were celebrating at the Forest Hills Townhome community on Four Seasons Lane on Saturday.

By Sunday night, 40 people were ill, and nearly 20 ended up in the hospital.

“That infection, which is highly contagious, which is called shigella, transferred to the individuals at the party,” explains Mecklenburg County Health Director Gibbie Harris.

Some of the patients, including children, are in the intensive care unit.

Harris says the illness is caused by exposure to feces.

“Someone who prepared food for the event, who did not wash their hands well,” Harris says.

Symptoms of shigella include severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, and cramping, along with fever, chills, and headache.

If you’ve been infected, you can pass the disease onto others, even if you don’t show symptoms yourself.

It usually clears up in five to seven days.

The health department emphasizes hand washing for anyone preparing food.

“The most important preventive measure is to wash hands and thoroughly with soap and water after using the bathroom,” says Mecklenburg County Director of Communicable Disease Control Carmel Clements.

There is no vaccine for shigella. We’re told some of the patients are being treated with antibiotics.

The health department is still looking for people who might have leftovers, so they can be tested.

“We are very doubtful that we’ll be able to pinpoint the exact source, but we will be looking at any food that people still have,” Harris says.