FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. — A LongHorn Steakhouse in Fairview Heights is on an indefinite hiatus as St. Clair County health officials investigate a spike in severe food poisoning cases linked to the restaurant.
The location was initially supposed to reopen on Friday morning, but a LongHorn spokesperson told 5 On Your Side Thursday that the restaurant would remain closed while waiting for more information from the health department.
This comes after numerous area hospitals reported increases in Shigella infections. The bacteria causes a type of food poisoning infection called shigellosis, which triggers symptoms including bloody or prolonged diarrhea, stomach pain, and fever lasting five to seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The infection can also, in rare cases, cause reactive arthritis, bloodstream infections, and seizures.
A LongHorn spokesperson said none of the restaurant’s staff have been diagnosed with Shigella. They said the health department notified them about the outbreak earlier this week.
"Our phones have been ringing off the hook today with people who ate at this restaurant and got sick," said Jory Lange, a food poisoning lawyer at Lange Law Firm. "People are very upset and a little shaken due to this. We've talked to people who are just coming out of the hospital or who've been in the emergency room recently, and this has upended their lives."
Jory Lange handles hundreds of Shigella cases just like this all over the country, including a recent $10 million settlement in California, one of the highest settlements of its kind on record in the United States. He's representing several families after at least 30 people have contacted his law firm.
Lange filed the first Shigella lawsuit in this LongHorn Steakhouse outbreak on Thursday. He expects more to follow soon.
"It's a pretty miserable and horrific few days, but most people recover after that. But other people have permanent, lifelong health consequences as a result of this, things like reactive arthritis or IBS," Lange said.
Some of the sick individuals are running high fevers and are very dehydrated, according to Lange.
"I think what a lot of people don't realize is when you get severely dehydrated, it can change your potassium levels in your body, and that can lead to catastrophic health consequences," he said.
The St. Clair Public Health Department and Illinois Department of Health investigators started looking into the cases after the spike in infections.
"As of the afternoon of October 2, 2024, the health department has received 14 Shigella reports from people testing positive," the St. Clair County Health Department said in an emailed press release. "Twelve (12) of the positive individuals dined at the LongHorn establishment between September 21st and 22nd, 2024. Six (6) cases have been hospitalized."
"Just today, we've talked to people who got sick after eating on the restaurant as early as September 19 or as late as September 27th," Lange said.
Lange said food poisoning outbreaks are almost always preventable.
"We don't know yet what the cause of this was, whether it was a product coming into the restaurant with Shigella or a sick food handler. If people are preparing food but not correctly washing their hands after using the restroom, that's how fecal matter can get into food and cause outbreaks like this. That's how food poisoning outbreaks happen and how Shigella outbreaks happen. It's typically because there's human fecal matter in the food; as gross as that sounds, that's how this happens," said Lange.
One of the infected patients told 5 On Your Side that she was in the hospital for days after eating at the restaurant on September 21st and was released on Wednesday.
Many other sick individuals said they were upset at the restaurant's delayed response, and that's why Lange said he would do whatever he could to help them.
"When you go to a restaurant, and you pay your hard-earned money for a meal with your family, you shouldn't be worried that you're going to end up in the emergency room or the hospital afterward, and unfortunately, that is exactly what's happened here," Lange said.
Health experts said it can take a day or two to start feeling symptoms. Some people could experience symptoms and be contagious for up to four or more weeks.
"It can be fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, sometimes diarrhea can be bloody. It can be very severe, especially in children, people who have immunocompromised systems, or even healthy people. Unfortunately, people wind up in the hospital because of it," said Dr. Farrin Manian, Chief Department of Medicine and Infectious Disease Specialist at Mercy Hospital St. Louis.