A 15-year-old girl from Grand Junction, Colorado, is speaking out about the first E. coli symptoms she says she experienced after eating McDonald’s Quarter Pounders.

The popular sandwiches have been linked to an outbreak of the bacteria in 13 states that has sickened 90 people, including one death and 27 hospitalizations, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The most likely source of the outbreak is the chopped onions that go on top of the burger, McDonald’s said in a press release. The distributor of the onions in the affected region, Taylor Farms, said that while no specific ingredient has been confirmed as a source, they have “preemptively recalled” the yellow onions.

McDonald’s has also stopped purchasing onions from Taylor Farms and has removed Quarter Pounders from the menu at about 900 locations, but the fast food giant plans to start selling them without onions again this week for the time being.

The girl, Kamberlyn Bowler, is currently hospitalized with kidney failure and gave her first interview about her illness to NBC News.

Teen recalls symptoms that led to hospitalization

Kamberlyn, a previously healthy teenager, went to McDonald’s several times in the days before she became ill. She ordered her favorite Quarter Pounder with cheese and extra pickles.

According to her mother, Brittany Randall, her first symptoms – fever and stomach pain – started the following month.

“(My mom and I) both thought I just had a fever, a flu or something – a stomach flu,” Kamberlyn told NBC News. “But then I started vomiting, had diarrhea and it was bloody, so it scared me.”

Randall took her daughter to the emergency room, but tests turned up nothing. After that, things started to get worse for the teenager.

After almost a week of symptoms, Kamberlyn said she had to go back to the doctor. “It scared me. I was scared,” she remembers.

At the second doctor’s visit, tests revealed that Kamberlyn was in kidney failure due to a severe E. coli infection. She was flown to Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora on October 18 and remains there.

“It was just scary to see her body working against her,” Randall said. “It was hard. I had to take time off work, she was on the softball team for her high school, she had to take the last few games off because she was sick.”

The teen was diagnosed with enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a rare complication of an E. coli infection caused by the bacteria that attacks the kidneys.

Kamberlyn has undergone multiple rounds of dialysis and while her kidneys may be able to function again, the extent of the permanent damage is still unknown, according to Randall.

“We’re not really sure what it’s going to look like for her moving forward,” she said. “She’ll probably have to do another round of dialysis. We hope it’s the last, but we don’t know.”

Kamberlyn had no underlying conditions before her E. coli infection. She played softball at her high school.

“She went from being super healthy and having no problems to possibly having kidney damage for the rest of her life,” says Randall.

In an email, a McDonald’s spokesperson told NBC News that stories like Kamberlyn’s are “devastating to us.”

“We know that people and families have been significantly impacted, and the well-being of our customers is of great importance to us,” the email said.

Lawsuits against the McDonald’s outbreak

Several lawsuits have already been filed against McDonald’s over the E. coli Quarter Pounder outbreak. Ron Simon, an attorney representing Kamberlyn and 32 others involved, told NBC News he plans to file the lawsuit against Kamberlyn this week. He added that he has received hundreds of calls since the outbreak began.

“There will be many more cases than 75 in this outbreak,” Simon said.

One of the lawsuits was filed by Clarissa DeBock, 33, a receptionist from North Platte, Nebraska, who says she ate a Quarter Pounder on September 18 and ended up in the emergency room a week later. DeBock is also a customer of Simon.

On October 27, McDonald’s President Joe Erlinger apologized to customers in a video, promising to regain customer trust.

“On behalf of the McDonald’s system, I want you to hear from me: we are sorry,” he said. “To the customers involved, you have my commitment that, guided by our values, we will make this right.”

E. coli symptoms

According to the CDC, the following are signs of an E. coli infection and might be worth contacting a healthcare provider:

• Diarrhea and fever greater than 102°F
• Diarrhea lasting more than three days that does not improve
• Bloody diarrhea
• So much vomiting that you can’t keep the fluids down
• Signs of dehydration, such as not urinating much, dry mouth and throat, feeling dizzy when standing up

Symptoms usually begin three to four days after consuming the bacteria, and most people typically recover without treatment after five to seven days, the CDC said.

NBC News’ Christina Romans, Elizabeth Chuck and Laura Allenbaugh contributed reporting.