AZUZ: At least 156 people in 10 U.S. states have been infected by e coli. It’s an abbreviation for Escherichia coli, the name of a bacteria. The U.S. Center for Disease Control says those who’ve gotten sick had eaten tainted ground beef at home and in restaurants. Twenty of the victims have been hospitalized but no one has died. There’s a ground beef supplier in Georgia that’s recalled more than 113,000 pounds of raw ground beef because of possible e coli contamination. The company says those items were produced starting in late March and the current outbreak began weeks before that on March 1st.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: E coli is a type of bacteria. It lives in your intestines and it lives in the intestines of animals. Most of the time e coli is harmless. You’re not going to get sick but there are some strains that can get you sick. E coli O157H7 is a particularly dangerous strain of e coli. You can get it from undercooked ground meat. You can get it from vegetables, from unpasteurized milk, in juice, from soft cheeses. While it is found in vegetables, ultimately an animal is the source. So animal waste some how has come in contact with crops.

Children and adults with weakened immune systems, they’re the most vulnerable to getting very sick. The signs of e coli poisoning are nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, cramps, fatigue and fever. Most people who get sick from e coli, they recover in five to 10 days but some people they get really sick. Their organs can shut down and they can die. There are things that you can do to prevent an e coli infection. Wash your fruits and vegetables. Cook your meats thoroughly, use a thermometer and get that thermometer up to 160 degrees.

There’s no cure for an e coli infection. Antibiotics don’t work. So the best thing you can do is to keep yourself hydrated and keep yourself rested.