Investigators seek source of outbreak at Kansas eateryInvestigators seek source of outbreak at Kansas eatery

Alan J. Liddle

LENEXA Kan. The Mi Ranchito restaurant here will remain closed until management and public health agencies can determine why approximately 20 patrons on Sunday suffered nausea, vomiting and dizziness – the second such incident in 19 days, according to state officials.

The Lenexa branch of the six-unit Mi Ranchito Mexican restaurant chain was voluntarily closed by management Sunday night, but early Monday received an emergency suspension order from the Kansas Department of Agriculture. That order means the establishment cannot reopen until the cause of the outbreaks, which sickened at least 25 people in all, is determined and corrected, according to Lisa Taylor, the department’s director of communications.

While some Mi Ranchito patrons were examined by paramedics and transported to local hospitals for initial treatment Sunday, it was unclear how many, if any, required hospitalization. Johnson County officials did not return a phone call seeking a clarification on this point as of press time.

Agriculture’s Taylor said her agency has been told that an inspection of the Lenexa restaurant by a local water service found a backflow problem that may have permitted carbonated water from a drink machine to come into contact with copper plumbing. Mi Ranchito management has speculated to some news organizations that the backflow problem may have resulted in some guests getting carbonic acid poisoning.

However Maggie Thompson, director of communications for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said that not all patrons sickened Sunday consumed carbonated drinks. She said clinical specimens from people sickened in the first outbreak Aug. 11 showed no signs of the bacterial toxins typically found in foodborne illness cases – a development that has investigators looking at a number of possible causes, including the restaurant’s water lines and ice sources.

Thompson said her agency is conferring with toxicologists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to try to better understand where it might look for the source of the illness.

Mi Ranchito headquarters employees Tuesday said they could not discuss the investigation in detail but did provide this written statement from the owners: “The source of the illnesses experienced by some of our Lenexa restaurant patrons has been discovered and will be remedied. The appropriate authorities have assured us that the illnesses were not food-related and were limited to only the Lenexa location. Mi Ranchito will re-open its Lenexa location as soon as possible in order to serve our loyal customers.”

Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected]