‘Nausea, diarrhea, shaking, chills, fever’: McHenry Co. health department investigates local restaurant after diners get sick

CHICAGO (CBS) — Thirteen people got sick after eating at a restaurant in a far northwest suburb.

The McHenry County Health Department is trying to figure out what caused everyone to get sick. CBS 2’s Shardaa Gray spoke with a woman who said she became ill after eating at the McHenry location.

“From nausea, diarrhea, shaking, chills, fever.”

This is what Nicole Wanhala endured after eating at D.C. Cobb’s in McHenry County.

“It was a pretty brutal, I’d say, 24 hours,” Wanhala said.

The McHenry County Health Department posted on its Facebook page a reported outbreak of gastrointestinal illness linked to D.C. Cobb’s. Thirteen people became sick after eating at the establishment.

The restaurant is a locally owned business with three locations: McHenry, Woodstock and East Dundee. Wanhala said she ate at the McHenry location last Friday.

“We got the Buffalo cauliflower bites and then, I was with my boyfriend, and we each ordered a wrap,” Wanhala sad. “His did not have lettuce though, so I’m thinking lettuce might be the factor.”

When she started feeling sick, she didn’t connect it to her meal.

“Not at all. I’ve eaten there many times before.”

CBS 2 spoke with the management at the McHenry location and they said after a group told them they got sick after eating there, the restaurant immediately called the McHenry County Health Department.

The health department said it got that initial call, as well as a call from one who ate there. It asks anyone who’s eaten there between August 29th and September 13th to fill out a survey. Wanhala filled it out.

“They basically broke down the whole menu and had you pick out what you ordered, what you ate,” Wanhala said.

CBS 2 asked the restaurant why it remained open after the outbreak. A representative said it’s because the health department didn’t ask them to close.

“I follow them on Instagram and saw today that they were like, serving sandwiches, come on in, that was a little head scratching to me,” Wanhala said.

So far, the health department said it received 387 completed surveys, which can contain those who got sick and those who didn’t. CBS 2 asked the health department why the restaurant wasn’t shut down, but so far there’s been no response.