--- title: A Possible Ohio Chipotle Illness Outbreak Remains a Mystery description: Officials still don't know what may have caused a possible food-borne illness outbreak resulting from a Powell, Ohio Chipotle. canonical: https://time.com/5362597/ohio-chipotle-negative-test-results/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-10T21:15:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:06:33.737Z article:section: Health og:title: 'This Is Very Strange.' An Illness Outbreak Possibly Related to an Ohio Chipotle Remains a Mystery Two Weeks Later og:description: Tests keep coming back negative og:url: https://time.com/5362597/ohio-chipotle-negative-test-results/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt039890222b38244d/6989377e457a529bf9d5f146/chipotle-food1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Chipotle Becomes First Non-GMO US Restaurant Chain og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'This Is Very Strange.' An Illness Outbreak Possibly Related to an Ohio Chipotle Remains a Mystery Two Weeks Later twitter:description: Tests keep coming back negative twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt039890222b38244d/6989377e457a529bf9d5f146/chipotle-food1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'This Is Very Strange.' An Illness Outbreak Possibly Related to an Ohio Chipotle Remains a Mystery Two Weeks Later > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=c0d8de51-d56f-4be0-a40c-9be8426aa421&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1)  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Aug 10, 2018 9:15 PM UTC  Chipotle restaurant workers fill orders for customers on the day that the company announced it will only use non-GMO ingredients in its food on April 27, 2015. Chipotle restaurant workers fill orders for customers on the day that the company announced it will only use non-GMO ingredients in its food on April 27, 2015. Joe Raedle—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Aug 10, 2018 9:15 PM UTC An unexplained illness outbreak possibly related to an Ohio Chipotle restaurant continues to baffle officials roughly two weeks since people started getting sick. Health officials have [identified 644 people](https://twitter.com/DelawareHealth/status/1028012574154149889) who became sick after eating at a Chipotle outside Columbus between July 26 and July 30, [according to a Friday update](https://twitter.com/DelawareHealth/status/1028012574154149889) from Ohio’s Delaware General Health District. The cause of the illnesses, however, remains unclear. After [stool samples initially tested negative](http://time.com/5357386/ohio-chipotle-outbreak/) for four of the pathogens typically behind food-borne illness outbreaks — E. coli, norovirus, shigella and salmonella — the Ohio Department of Health submitted leftover food samples for additional testing, thinking they might come back positive for either Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens bacteria, both of which can cause food-borne illness. Those tests, however, also came back negative for all six potential pathogens, according to the DGHD’s latest update. > [](https://twitter.com/DelawareHealth/status/1028012574154149889) “This is very strange, to not know a pathogen or a source after food samples were tested and stool, initially,” says Traci Whittaker, a public information officer with the DGHD. Whittaker says stool samples have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for more advanced testing, but results are not yet available. Bill Marler, a lawyer who specializes in food-borne illness cases, says he originally suspected that Bacillus cereus might be behind the illnesses. With those results coming back negative, however, he says there’s a chance Staphylococcus aureus is to blame. That bacteria is typically associated with hospital-acquired infections, but it can also contaminate foods and cause gastrointestinal illness, [according to the CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/diseases/staphylococcal.html). About 25% of people, many otherwise healthy, carry the bacteria on their skin or in their nose, the CDC says. Aside from that, Marler says, he’s not sure what the pathogen could be. “The public health officials are certainly doing all the right testing,” Marler says. A representative from Chipotle told TIME there is “nothing new to report.” The restaurant in question, in Powell, closed on July 30, but reopened on July 31\. No additional illnesses have been reported since it reopened. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5362597/ohio-chipotle-negative-test-results/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5362597/ohio-chipotle-negative-test-results/"},"headline":"'This Is Very Strange.' 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