• April 10: First illness

• May 22: New Mexico sends four DNA fingerprints of an unsusal strain of Salmonella, called Saintpaul, to the CDC's PulseNet network. Lab workers search for any reports of the same strain in the past 60 days, and turn up matches in three other states.

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• June 2: CDC warns that uncooked tomatoes may be linked to the outbreak. Forty illnesses are reported, in Texas and New Mexico.

• June 3: FDA advises Texas and New Mexico residents to avoid uncooked round red tomatoes and Roma or plum tomaotes.

• June 7: FDA extends the raw tomato advisory to the rest of the country. Illnesses rise to 145.

• June 27: CDC announces they're investigating other foods commonly eaten with tomatoes, and that whatever is making people sick is still on the market. FDA announces no evidence of the outbreak bacteria in 1,700 samples taken from the tomato investigation. 810 illnesses.

• July 7: Raw chili peppers, including jalapeños, and fresh cilantro join tomatoes on the suspect list. 971 illnesses.

• July 9: CDC warns those at increased risk of food-borne illness to avoid jalapeño and serrano peppers. Tomatoes and fresh cilantro remain suspects. Becomes the largest food-borne disease outbreak in the past decade, with 1,017 illnesses.

• July 17: Case total grows to 1,220.