Many of the deaths involved elderly people who are especially susceptible to aggressive pathogen.
Melons were grown Colorado Company, Jensen Farms, which issued the recall earlier this month. Melons, such as Rocky Ford sold melons, named after the region in Colorado, have been sold across the country.
Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that from the beginning started in late July, at least 72 people ill in 18 states.
The agency said that four people were killed in New Mexico, two in Colorado, two in Texas and one each in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Death toll may rise as state officials await the results of health tests on other deaths suspected of being part of an outbreak.
Officials said most victims were aged over 60 years. At least two were in their 90s.
Listeria is a common but dangerous bacterium that can cause severe illness, especially among the elderly, very young and people with weakened immune systems. The causative agent can also cause pregnant women to abortion.
Federal officials still do not provide any information about the number of miscarriages or stillbirths associated with the outbreak. Pregnant women are 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to come down with severe infections, according to the CDC
John N. Sofos, professor of food safety at Colorado State University, said that many people who have been infected may have only mild symptoms such as diarrhea. But in other countries, especially the most vulnerable, the bacteria may aggressively out of the gastrointestinal tract and attack the tissues of the muscles or the spinal cord, which leads to much more serious diseases such as meningitis.
For this reason, death in Listeria outbreaks are often much higher than for other forms of foodborne bacteria.
William Marler, a lawyer in Seattle, who represents victims of foodborne illness, said the outbreak could be especially deadly simply because the melon is eaten food of many older people.
"Sometimes in outbreaks, this population is in many foods, which leads to the rooms," Mr. Marler said. "In this case, you have a lot of people 60 and older who consume a melon."
The outbreak was the third worst in the United States attributed to some form of foodborne illness, in terms of number of deaths since the CDC started tracking such outbreaks regularly in the early 1970s.
Deadly outbreaks in the United States since occurred in 1985, when the wave of the disease listeriosis associated with Mexican-style fresh cheese, swept through California. Federal database says 52 deaths have been linked to an outbreak, but the news at the time their number reaches 84.
The second outbreak was the deadliest in 1998 and 1999 when there were at least 14 people and four miscarriages or stillbirths in the Listeria outbreak associated with hot dogs and sausages. Some sources put the deaths in this outbreak reaches 21.
With the updated died on Tuesday, Rocky Ford cantaloupe outbreak exceeded 2008 deaths related to salmonella-tainted peanut and peanut butter manufactured by Georgia Peanut Corporation of America. That outbreak, which has attracted a lot of news, killed nine people and more than 700 people became ill.
A huge outbreak this year in Europe, a rare form of E.coli bacteria to include fenugreek seeds, killing at least 50 people.
Listeria is a common bacteria found in soil, water, decaying plants and manure. The voltage of the body, called Listeria monocytogenes, the first found to cause diseases related to diet in the early 1980s. Since then, only a few Listeria outbreaks have been associated with fresh fruits and vegetables. Most of them were caused by tainted meat or dairy products.
It may take more than two months for person exposed to the bacteria get sick, which means that it is often difficult to identify food that is made of the pathogen.
Unlike some other bacteria, listeria and grows well at low temperatures, which means it can be difficult to remove from the refrigerated rooms used for processing or storage of food.
Food and Drug Administration said that a strain of bacteria found on melons and equipment for packing houses in the Colorado farm. It also found the bacteria on melon in Denver area store. Investigators said they believe that the contamination occurred.
F.D.A. encourages consumers to wash all raw materials, including melon under running water. The company produces, as well as melons, should be removed from produce with a brush. Wash your produce should be dried with a clean cloth or paper towel unused, the agency said.
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