As many as 110 people have contracted a serious, sometimes fatal bacterial infection after eating at a popular Bay Area seafood restaurant. And now, warn local health officials, the disease is spreading far beyond the restaurant's patrons.

As reported earlier this week patrons of San Jose restaurant Mariscos San Juan started falling ill with Shigella after dining there Friday or Saturday.

Shigella, a bacterial intestinal disease, is typically "passed through direct contact with the bacteria in the stool," aka why restaurants have that "Employees Must Wash Hands!" signs in the bathrooms.

Since the outbreak was discovered the Santa Clara County Public Health Department has closed the place down, at least two people have sued the restaurant, and as many as 110 people who ate there have contracted the disease.

And now, like in the end of Contagion, the disease is spreading beyond the initial infecteds. To the rest of us.

(Except, instead of a bat and a pig and all that, it's probably just someone taking a dump and failing to wash their hands.)

At a press conference yesterday, Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said that doctors and hospitals should brace for "more secondary cases, in which people had contact with someone who ate the restaurant."

After all, it's super easy to get the disease, via "direct contact" or by eating food or drink prepared by someone who's been infected.

“It’s quite contagious and it doesn’t take very many individual organisms to get ill,” Cody says.

Symptoms include (sometimes) diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain and vomiting that can start one to two days after exposure. If you think you've been infected, you're urged to seek medical attention immediately — though most people recover on their own after five to seven days of misery, complications of the disease can be serious and sometimes fatal.

And, for the sake of all that's good and holy, wash your hands.

Previously: San Jose Seafood Restaurant Sickens 93 People With Shigella
After 93 Possible Shigella Infections, Two Lawsuits Filed So Far Against San Jose Restaurant