Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday that 72 diseases, including 13 deaths related to tainted fruit. State and local officials say they are studying three additional deaths that might be linked.
The death toll released CDC Tuesday - including the newly confirmed deaths in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas - has surpassed the number of deaths associated with the outbreak of salmonella in peanut nearly three years ago. Nine people were killed in the outbreak.
CDC said Tuesday that they have confirmed two deaths in Texas and one death each in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Last week the CDC reported two deaths in Colorado, four people died in New Mexico, one in Oklahoma and one in Maryland.
New Mexico officials said Tuesday they are investigating the fifth death, and health authorities in Kansas and Wyoming said they also are investigating more deaths possibly linked to tainted fruit.
Listeria more deadly than the well-known pathogens like salmonella and E. coli, that these outbreaks are usually cause many other diseases. Twenty-one people died in the listeriosis outbreak of poisoning in 1998, traced to contaminated hot dogs and possibly deli meats made by Bill March Foods, a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corporation Another large outbreak of listeriosis in 1985 killed 52 people and has been associated with Mexican Style soft cheese.
Listeria usually only causes revulsion in the elderly, pregnant women and others with weakened immune systems. CDC said the average age of those who fell ill at 78 and that one in five who suffer from the disease may die.
Dr. Robert Tauxe of the CDC says the number of illnesses and deaths is likely to grow in the coming weeks, because the symptoms of listeria are not always immediately. It may take four weeks or more for a person sick after eating food contaminated with listeria.
"It's a long incubation period is the real problem", Tauxe said. "People who have eaten contaminated food two weeks ago, or even a week ago you could still get sick of weeks later."
CDC reported 72 illnesses and deaths in 18 states. Cases of listeria have been reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Most diseases have been reported in Colorado, which saw 15 ill. Fourteen have been reported in Texas, 10 in New Mexico and eight in Oklahoma.
The outbreak was traced to Jensen Farms in Holly, Colorado, which recalled the tainted melons at the beginning of the month. Food and Drug Administration said that health officials found listeria in the State of melon collected from grocery stores in the state and home of the victim, farmed Jensen. Compliance with strains of the disease were found on equipment and samples of melon packing facility Jensen farm in Granada, Colorado
FDA, which investigates the causes of foodborne disease outbreaks, and have not released any additional details on how contamination can occur. The agency says its investigation is continuing.
Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupes from farms Jensen have been sent from July 29 to September 10 in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.
The recalled cantaloupe can be labeled "Colorado Adults," "distributor of Frontera", "Jensenfarms.com" or "Sweet Rocky Fords." Not all of the recalled melons are marked with a sticker, FDA said.
In contrast to many pathogens, Listeria bacteria can grow at room temperature or even cooler temperatures. FDA and CDC recommends that anyone who may have one of the contaminated melons throw it out immediately and clean and disinfect any surfaces that may have touched.
About 800 cases of listeriosis in the United States each year, according to the CDC, and there are usually three or four outbreaks. Most of them date back to deli meats and soft cheeses, where Listeria is most common.Products are rarely the culprit, but federal investigators say they have seen more Listeria-related illnesses produce the last two years. She was found in shoots in 2009 and celery in 2010.
Although most healthy adults can consume Listeria without any side effects, it can kill the elderly and persons with weakened immune systems. It is also dangerous for pregnant women because it easily passes through to the fetus. Dr. Tauxe of the CDC said the type of listeriosis linked to melons is not one that is commonly associated with pregnancy related diseases, however. Of state and federal health not definitively linked any miscarriage, stillbirth or infant illness in the current outbreak.
Symptoms of listeriosis include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms. Victims often become incapacitated and unable to speak.
Debbie Frederick said that her mother knew something was wrong when her father, 87-year-old William Thomas Beach, collapsed at his home in Mustang, Oklahoma, and could not get up. He died several days later, on Sept. 1. Family later learned his death was linked to eating melons and sued the Jensen farm.
"At first, you just kind of go into shock," said Frederick. "Then it ends up that he would be alive if it did not happen. That's life, for what?"
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