The Harford County Health Department is awaiting the results of a culture taken from a 5-year-old boy who may have contracted the strain of E. coli that has been linked to contamination of flat-leaf spinach.

According to Matthew Plum of TheExaminer.com in Baltimore the case was first reported to the health department last week; about the same time recalls for flat-leaf spinach were issued across the country. According to the Food and Drug Administration, the contaminated spinach originated in California.



It is not yet known whether the 5-year-old boy contracted E. coli O157:H7 — the strain that has been linked to the spinach contamination.