Health department receives more than 500 survey responses following outbreak tied to D.C. Cobb’s in McHenry

More than 500 survey responses were sent in following an illness outbreak tied to the D.C. Cobb’s restaurant in McHenry that potentially caused more than a dozen people to become ill over a two-week period, officials said Friday.

The results, which came from a survey that closed Thursday, are being analyzed by the McHenry County Department of Health to determine the scope and cause of the outbreak, including whether any food items are the source of the outbreak or identify other things that helped cause the spread, according to a news release Friday.

Stool samples are also being collected from ill individuals to test and identify the pathogen that led to the illness, the release states.

As part of the investigation, officials are looking food items that both those who became sick and who did not ate to see the likelihood that a particular item caused the illness, according to the release.

The investigation was launched after 13 people becoming sick with a gastrointestinal illness after eating at D.C. Cobb’s.

Following the reports, the health department asked those who at the restaurant between Aug. 29 and Tuesday, sick or not, to fill out a survey. Earlier this week, the only commonality found was that six people who got sick had to-go orders that included lettuce, owner Dan Hart told the Northwest Herald.

D.C. Cobb’s has been fully cooperating with the investigation, officials said earlier this week.

The health department is advising anybody who ate food prepared at the establishment and became sick to seek medical attention, the release states.

The outbreak is the second report of food- or water-borne illness in recent weeks, with the health department having identified eight cases of campylobacteriosis between Aug. 17 and Aug. 30. It’s not clear if these outbreaks are related.