SALMONELLA CASES TRACED TO RESTAURANT IN FORT COLLINS

A salmonella outbreak in Fort Collins, traced to the La Luz Mexican Restaurant in Old Town, remains under investigation, according to health officials.

“We are asking the public who ate food from the restaurant in the last few weeks to report concerns or illnesses regarding this situation,” the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment said in a news release.

People who dined at La Luz reported being ill earlier this month and multiple cases of salmonella have been confirmed, health officials said. Some people were hospitalized.

Salmonella are bacteria that can cause infections affecting the intestinal tract, urinary tract, bloodstream or other body tissues, health officials said. Salmonella is often spread to people through food consumption. Symptoms may include, diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, vomiting and bloody stool.

Anyone who has been ill after eating at La Luz in Fort Collins and who has not been in contact with health officials is asked to go online and report it.

First Mesa County case of West Nile virus in human since 2015.

A Mesa County resident has tested positive for West Nile virus for the first time in three years, according to health officials.

The case follows an increase in Culex mosquitoes in Mesa County. This type of mosquito carries West Nile virus, according to a Tuesday news release by Mesa County Public Health.

“We’ve seen more Culex mosquitoes this year than in the past three years,” epidemiology program manager Heidi Dragoo is quoted as saying in the news release.

Limiting Culex mosquito populations and preventing mosquito bites are the best ways to prevent the spread of West Nile virus, Dragoo said.

She recommended that people drain standing water in bird baths, flower pots and old tires at least once a week.

The Environmental Protection Agency has approved insect repellent, including DEET, Picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus for use against mosquitoes.

Man killed by train in Louisville was drunk; death ruled accident by coroner.

The Boulder County Coroner’s Office has ruled that a man hit and killed by a train in Louisville appeared on the tracks in a drunken accident, and not as an act of suicide or foul play.

Ian Perlmutter, 35, died when he was hit by a BNSF train traveling northbound through downtown Louisville in the early-morning hours of June 16.

Police said that the train’s engineers thought Perlmutter was debris in the tracks before realizing it was a person. They put on the emergency brakes, but Perlmutter was hit near Front and Caledonia streets.

Perlmutter was declared dead on scene.

According to an autopsy report from the Boulder County Coroner’s Office, pathologist Dr. Meredith Frank wrote that Perlmutter died from multiple blunt force injuries as a result of being hit by the train.

Perlmutter is the nephew of U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a six-term Arvada Democrat representing Colorado’s 7th Congressional District. — Denver