A total of 19 people have so far contracted E. coli in seven states in the U.S. and the outbreak has been suspected to be caused by eating a certain chicken salad made and sold at Costco stores. 

Costco has yet to release a statement from the recent event linking their rotisserie chicken salad to a number of people who contracted E. coli and got sick after purchasing and eating it.

CBS DC reports that federal health officials are already advising the public to throw away the chicken salad from Costco bought Friday even if no one has gotten sick to avoid what happened to the other 19 people from Montana, Utah, Colorado California, Missouri, Virginia and Washington.

"Five ill people have been hospitalized, and two have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. No deaths have been reported," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report as quoted by NBC News.

However, CDC is still investigating on the ingredient that may have caused E. coli. "Fourteen of 16 people purchased or ate rotisserie chicken salad from Costco in the week before illness started. The ongoing investigation has not identified what specific ingredient in the chicken salad is linked to illness," CDC informed.

Dallas News further reported that almost 90 percent of the people who purchased or ate the exact same dish from Costco in the week before their illnesses were diagnosed with E.coli.

Despite the lack of investigation results, the CDC already claims that it is more likely that the chicken salad from Costco is indeed the source of the outbreak. "The epidemiologic evidence available at this time suggests that rotisserie chicken salad made and sold in Costco Wholesale stores in several states is a likely source of this outbreak," CDC said.

Costco remains to be silent amid all the circulating news regarding the 19 people, between 5 to 84 years old, contracting the disease. Some of them even has even developed a type of kidney failure upon being diagnosed with E. coli.

However, Alicia Cronquist, an epidemiologist at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said, "We are working with Costco. FDA reported to us the product has been removed from the shelves and no longer is for sale in Colorado."

According to Dallas News, Costco, which is based in Issaquah, Washington, has already removed the chicken salad item from its U.S. stores and stopped further production.