Shigella Litigation

A resource for Shigella Outbreak Legal Cases sponsored by Marler Clark

Doubletree Hotel Shigella Outbreak Litigation

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) received reports of a Shigella outbreak on September 9, 2003. Interviews confirmed that multiple people had been ill during or following their stay at the Doubletree Hotel in Westminster, Colorado. CDPHE notified the Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Branch of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of a cluster of diarrheal illness among guests of the hotel. On September 12, CDC staff left Atlanta for Denver, to assist the CDPHE and Tri-County Health Department in their investigation of the outbreak.

Two separate large groups of hotel guests were identified; one group consisted of a wedding party; the second group consisted of a World War II veterans reunion, with attendees from a number of different states. Members of both groups, as well as a random sample of hotel guests, were contacted and interviewed; in all, 132 people.Ten individuals were diagnosed with culture-confirmed cases of Shigella sonnei infections.

On September 18, following positive stool tests from three food handlers, additional interviews of 25 kitchen staff were conducted. A kitchen chef cultured positive; he had worked September 4-6, had illness onset of September 8, and continued to work September 9-13.

Once the investigation was concluded, the report identified the following critical outbreak findings:


  • epidemiologic and environmental evidence implicated the honeydew melon served at the breakfast buffet

  • there was no evidence of hotel staff contaminating the honeydew melon

  • some practices by the kitchen food handlers were not optimal, and

  • the honeydew melons were traced back to two farms in California, but the investigation was inconclusive as to the possible source of contamination at those farms.

The CDC report, in part, also recommended that the hotel adopt the following procedures: hotel food handlers should not prepare or serve food if ill; preparation of raw fruits should minimize contamination from the peel or rind; employees should be trained to monitor food temperatures; employees should wash their hands thoroughly; and food service training should be required of restaurant staff.

Marler Clark represented three people who became ill with Shigella infections after attending a wedding reception held at the Doubletree Hotel.