WASHINGTON (AP) — Health officials say as many as
16 people have died from possible listeria illnesses traced to Colorado
cantaloupes, the deadliest food outbreak in more than a decade.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said
Tuesday that 72 illnesses, including 13 deaths, are linked to the tainted
fruit. State and local officials say they are investigating three additional
deaths that may be connected.
The death toll released by the CDC Tuesday —
including newly confirmed deaths in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas —
surpassed the number of deaths linked to an outbreak of salmonella in peanuts
almost three years ago. Nine people died in that outbreak.
The CDC said Tuesday that they have confirmed two
deaths in Texas and one death each in in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Last
week the CDC reported two deaths in Colorado, four deaths in New Mexico, one in
Oklahoma and one in Maryland.
New Mexico officials said Tuesday they are
investigating a fifth death, while health authorities in Kansas and Wyoming
said they too are investigating additional deaths possibly linked to the
tainted fruit.
Listeria is more deadly than well-known pathogens
like salmonella and E. coli, though those outbreaks generally cause many more
illnesses. Twenty-one people died in an outbreak of listeria poisoning in 1998
traced to contaminated hot dogs and possibly deli meats made by Bil Mar Foods,
a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corp. Another large listeria outbreak in 1985 killed
52 people and was linked to Mexican-style soft cheese.
Listeria generally only sickens the elderly,
pregnant women and others with compromised immune systems. The CDC said the
median age of those sickened is 78 and that one in five who contract the
disease can die.
Dr. Robert Tauxe of the CDC says the number of
illnesses and deaths will probably grow in coming weeks because the symptoms of
listeria don't always show up right away. It can take four weeks or more for a
person to fall ill after eating food contaminated with listeria.
"That long incubation period is a real
problem," Tauxe said. "People who ate a contaminated food two weeks
ago or even a week ago could still be falling sick weeks later."
CDC reported the 72 illnesses and deaths in 18
states. Cases of listeria were reported in California, Colorado, Florida,
Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico,
North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The most illnesses were reported in Colorado, which has seen 15 sickened. Fourteen
illnesses were reported in Texas, 10 in New Mexico and eight in Oklahoma.
The outbreak has been traced to Jensen Farms in
Holly, Colo., which recalled the tainted cantaloupes earlier this month. The
Food and Drug Administration said state health officials had found listeria in
cantaloupes taken from grocery stores in the state and from a victim's home
that were grown at Jensen Farms. Matching strains of the disease were found on
equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms' packing facility in Granada,
Colo.
The Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupes from Jensen Farms were
shipped from July 29 through Sept. 10 to 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 may be labeled
"Colorado Grown," ''Distributed by Frontera Produce,"
''Jensenfarms.com" or "Sweet Rocky Fords." Not all of the
recalled cantaloupes are labeled with a sticker, the FDA said.
Unlike many pathogens, listeria bacteria can grow
at room temperatures and even refrigerator temperatures. The FDA and CDC
recommend anyone who may have one of the contaminated cantaloupes throw it out
immediately and clean and sanitize any surfaces it may have touched.
About 800 cases of listeria are found in the United
States each year, according to CDC, and there usually are three or four
outbreaks. Most of these are traced to deli meat and soft cheeses, where
listeria is most common.
Produce has rarely been the culprit, but federal
investigators say they have seen more produce-related listeria illnesses in the
past two years. It was found in sprouts in 2009 and celery in 2010.
While most healthy adults can consume listeria with
no ill effects, it can kill the elderly and those with compromised immune
systems. It is also dangerous to pregnant women because it easily passes
through to the fetus. Dr. Tauxe of the CDC said the type of listeria linked to
the cantaloupes is not one that is commonly associated with
pregnancy-associated illnesses, however. State and federal health authorities
have not definitively linked any miscarriages, stillbirths or infant illnesses
to the current outbreak.
Symptoms of listeria include fever and muscle
aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms. Victims often become
incapacitated and unable to speak.
Debbie Frederick said her mother knew something was
wrong when her father, 87-year-old William Thomas Beach, collapsed at his home
in Mustang, Okla. and couldn't get up. He died a few days later, on Sept. 1.
The family later learned his death was linked to eating the cantaloupe and sued
Jensen Farms.
"First you just kind of go into shock,"
said Frederick. "Then it settles in that he would still be alive if this
hadn't happened. It's a life, for what?"
Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas,
Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb., Maria Sudekum Fisher in Kansas City, Mo., Susan
Montoya in Albuquerque, N.M. and Ben Neary in Cheyenne, Wyo. contributed to
this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/Ed Andrieski)
