--- title: Marler Clark Retained by Colorado Resident Sickened in Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Raw Oysters from Virginia’s Little Wicomico River date: 2026-10-19T21:47:00-07:00 author: Bill Marler canonical_url: "https://marlerclark.com/news_events/marler-clark-retained-by-colorado-resident-sickened-in-salmonella-outbreak-linked-to-raw-oysters-from-virginias-little-wicomico-river" section: News --- [All News](/news_events) / [Press Releases](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/press-releases) / # Marler Clark Retained by Colorado Resident Sickened in Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Raw Oysters from Virginia’s Little Wicomico River **BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash., October 19, 2026** — Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, has been retained by a Colorado resident who became ill with *Salmonella* Telelkebir after eating raw oysters that public health officials have linked to a multistate outbreak traced to the Little Wicomico River in Northumberland County, Virginia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [announced the outbreak](https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/outbreaks/oysters-10-26/index.html) on October 19. As of that date, 27 people in 12 states were confirmed infected with the outbreak strain, five of the 21 with information available had been hospitalized, and no deaths had been reported. Illnesses began between May 29 and September 14, 2026. Two of the sick people live in Colorado; the others live in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Indiana, Maryland, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky and New Jersey. Of 13 people interviewed, 10 reported eating raw oysters. Traceback for seven of them identified oysters harvested by Little Wicomico Oyster Company from the Little Wicomico River as the only source they had in common, and a sample of the company’s oysters collected by Pennsylvania officials at a distributor tested positive for *Salmonella*. Sequencing to determine whether it matches the outbreak strain is pending. On October 9, Little Wicomico Oyster Company (VA-1421-SP) of Heathsville, Virginia, [recalled](https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/environmental-health/shellfish-safety/recall-little-wicomico-river/) shellstock oysters harvested from the Little Wicomico River and Little Wicomico River Lower from September 18 through October 8, 2026. According to the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration](https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/safety-alert-salmonella-oysters-little-wicomico-river-virginia), the recalled oysters were distributed to restaurants and retailers in California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia, and may have been further distributed. The Virginia Department of Health [closed](https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/environmental-health/shellfish-safety/emergency-condemnation-010a/) the downstream portion of the river to shellfish harvesting from October 9 through November 7. FDA advises restaurants and retailers not to sell or serve, and consumers not to eat, the recalled oysters. “*Salmonella* is not a marine organism the way *Vibrio* is,” said William Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark. “When it is in an oyster, it got there from sewage, septic drainage, farm runoff or wildlife. Virginia and the company did the right thing by closing the river and recalling what was still in the market, but every one of the 27 reported illnesses began before the first recalled harvest date. The people who got sick this summer deserve to know where the contamination came from, and whether this is the same strain that sickened 80 people in last year’s oyster outbreak.” This is the second *Salmonella* Telelkebir outbreak linked to raw oysters in a year. CDC [closed the earlier outbreak](https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/outbreaks/oysters-12-25/investigation.html) on February 24, 2026, with 80 people sick in 23 states and 34 of 68 hospitalized. No single common source of oysters was identified in that investigation and no product was recalled. **About Marler Clark** [Marler Clark](https://marlerclark.com/), The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of foodborne illness outbreaks. Founded after the 1993 Jack in the Box *E. coli* outbreak, it is the only U.S. law practice devoted exclusively to foodborne illness and has recovered more than $850 million for victims and their families. The firm’s *Salmonella* lawyers have represented thousands of victims and have brought cases against Cargill, ConAgra, Peanut Corporation of America, Sheetz, Taco Bell, Subway and Wal-Mart. 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