Listeria outbreak claims 18th victim in the United States

[News_Editor]

Listeria outbreak claims 18th victim in the United States

2011-10-06 02:12:21 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The death toll as a result of a listeria outbreak in the United States has risen to at least 18, according to a new report released on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC has recorded some 100 cases in 20 different states with the most deaths being documented in the states of Colorado and New Mexico, where five people have died in each state. Other states which have reported deaths include Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Maryland, and Kansas.

The FDA had previously issued a press release on September 14 to announce that Jensen Farms issued a voluntary recall of its Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupes after being linked to a multistate outbreak of listeriosis.

However, even though the recalled cantaloupe should be off store shelves, additional people with the illness may be reported because of the time lag between diagnosis and laboratory confirmation. In addition, it can take up to two months between eating contaminated food and developing listeriosis, meaning that further cases may continue to appear in coming months.

The CDC has especially warned older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women as being more vulnerable to the disease, warning all consumers not to eat Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupes. However, the agency noted that cantaloupes which are known to not have come from Jensen Farms are safe to eat.

Listeria is a serious bacterial disease with a mortality rate of over 25 percent and is usually acquired through consumption of contaminated food, as is the case in the current outbreak.

A listeriosis outbreak in 1985 caused at least 52 deaths, including 19 stillbirths and 10 infants. The outbreak was caused by a Mexican style soft cheese in Southern California and has been the food-borne outbreak with most recorded deaths in U.S. history since the CDC began tracking outbreaks in the 1970s.

In recent years, at least nine people died from an estimated 22,500 cases of salmonella in the U.S. during an outbreak caused by infected peanut butter in 2009. It became one of the worst known food-borne disease outbreaks in recent U.S. history.

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