Federal health officials told CNN today 14 people in six states have been sickened by the same strain of E. coli over the past couple of months.

According to CDC spokeswoman Lola Russell, 14 cases of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O145 infection with the same DNA fingerprint were identified in six states. "Their illness onsets range from April 15 to May 12, 2012," she said. "Three ill persons have been hospitalized. One death has been reported in Louisiana."

Cases have been reported in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Florida, according to local health departments and media reports. The CDC would not reveal which other two states were reporting cases.

Louisiana health officials would confirm only that one child died and two adults were sickened in the New Orleans area. CNN affiliate WWL reported that the child was 21-month-old Maelan Elizabeth Graffagnini, who fought the infection for weeks at a local hospital.

Except the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) has now identified a fourth case. The Louisiana cases occurred in late April and early May 2012.

Georgia is reporting five cases, the most in one state.

"Four of five are female, and their ages range from 18 to 52, with a median of 34. Illness onsets range from (April 15-28); one case was hospitalized overnight for this illness, and no cases have died," said Suleima Salgado, deputy director of communications for the Georgia Department of Public Health.

The cases in Georgia have been mild, according to Dr. J. Patrick O’Neal, who heads the Division of Health Protection within the Georgia Department of Public Health.

He said Thursday, "I don’t think there’s need for great concern. I think awareness, yes, concern, no. We have outbreaks of various diarrheal diseases quite frequently."

E. coli can have an incubation period of as little as one day and as long as 10 days after exposure. According to the CDC, "the symptoms often begin slowly with mild belly pain or non-bloody diarrhea that worsens over several days." So investigators are dependent on people accurately remembering what they may have eaten or come into contact with before they got sick.