NEWTON, N.C. -- A Newton restaurant may be closed for good after nearly two dozen customers tested positive for having salmonella.

Experts with the Catawba County Public Health Office said they may never know for sure what caused the outbreak at the Carniceria y Taqueria off U.S. 321 Business. The owner has scrubbed the place down, but he said he knows some customers will never come back.

Health officials are concerned the outbreak could continue to spread even though the restaurant has stopped serving. That’s because some of those who ate at the restaurant work at other restaurants in town, where they could spread the illness that has symptoms that include shaking, a high fever and diarrhea.

Kristy Thompson is one of those.

“I felt like my body was dying,” she said.

She has a letter from the health department telling her not to go back to work until she is better.

“It said I can’t go back to work unless the health department clears me, and if I do go back to work, then my work could be shut down,” she said.

Health experts said it is important for people with symptoms not to work with children, food or in health care. Already, 96 cases showed up at the Catawba Valley Medical Center. The big question every one has is exactly how the salmonella was transmitted.

For more information, call the Catawba County Public Health Office at (828) 695-5800.