Zov’s Irvine restaurant closes briefly after diners get sick

County health officials briefly shut down Zov’s restaurant in Irvine on Wednesday after diners were sickened by a bacteria traced to the location, authorities said.

Four people who ate at Zov’s between Sept. 16 and 22 were infected with shigella, a form of intestinal bacteria that causes diarrhea, said Deanne Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency.

There have been three shigella outbreaks connected to restaurants in Orange County this year, an unusually high number, Thompson said.

In late August, True Food Kitchen in Newport Beach was closed for two days after shigella cases were discovered there, and in February, Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop in Costa Mesa briefly shut down after some customers were sickened.

After investigators determine a restaurant is the source of a shigella infection, health officials require the business to throw out all of its opened or ready-to-eat food and perform a thorough cleaning. Employees are then retrained on food-handing procedures and must be medically cleared before they return to work.

“It’s a bacteria that can be transmitted very easily without adequate hand washing,” Thompson said.

Zov’s brought in staff from other locations to work in Irvine and was allowed to reopen late in the day Wednesday, according to Thompson.