One of the patients in the McDonald's outbreak suffered from that condition, known as hemolytic uremic syndrome. Hedberg is also a member of the McDonald's Food Safety Advisory Council, but said he has not worked with the company on its response to the outbreak. The size of the outbreak "would imply widespread undercooking by many different individual McDonald's restaurants" if beef was the culprit, according to Hedberg. For example, rival Wendy's dealt with its own link to an E. coli outbreak two years ago. However, that transparency means more media coverage, which reminds consumers about the crisis and risks scaring them away from McDonald's restaurants.

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Persons: Michael M, Taylor, it's, spokespeople, McDonald's, Thomas Jaenisch, There's, Xiang Yang, Yang, Craig Hedberg, Hedberg, Jaenisch, Wendy's, Eric Gonzalez, Jack, Chipotle, Gonzalez, Joe Erlinger, Erlinger, Jo, Ellen Pozner, Darin Detwiler, Detwiler, Bill Marler, Marler, Clarissa DeBock, Eric Stelly Organizations: Santiago, Getty, for Disease Control, Taylor, Foods, . Foods, McDonald's, CDC, Colorado School of Public Health, University of California, Food Safety Center of Excellence, Food Safety Advisory, Food and Drug Administration, U.S . Department of Agriculture's, Inspection Service, CNBC, Media, USA, Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business, Northeastern University Locations: Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City, California, Davis, Colorado, U.S, Minnesota, McDonald's U.S, Nebraska, Greeley , Colorado