Speights: Arkansas Evaded E. Coli Outbreak

Local Jonesboro, Ark., outlet K8 News quoted Dean of NYITCOM-Arkansas Shane Speights, D.O., in coverage about an E. coli outbreak in McDonald’s locations across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that while 14 states are currently combatting the outbreak—suspected to be caused by slivered onions served on Quarter Pounders—Arkansas has, so far, evaded the bacterial infection.

“The meat is fine, it’s actually the onions,” says Speights, who warns that E. coli symptoms can be brutal, including loose stool, fever, dehydration, and, in serious cases, sepsis.

Those slivers that were causing infection likely were not cleaned thoroughly or came from an infected processing area, and McDonald’s has since changed onion vendors. “Those infected onions should not be in any McDonald’s, really, across the country, but certainly not in Arkansas,” Speights says.