The amount of people that have died due to the listeria-tainted melons is up to 16, that number officially makes it the deadliest food outbreak in the last 10 to 15 years. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
@WiL
Tainted Colorado cantaloupes have killed as many as 16 people in the U.S., officially making it the deadliest food outbreak in a decade, health officials said.
Melons contaminated with listeria, a deadly food-borne bacteria, have also sickened 72 people, many of them elderly, across 18 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Thirteen people are confirmed dead, and state officials in New Mexico, Kansas and Wyoming said three deaths in those states are probably linked to the outbreak.
The deadly toll tops the number killed by salmonella-poisoned peanuts in 2009. Nine died in that outbreak.
The latest listeria cases 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 bad melons were traced to Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo.
The farm recalled its melons earlier this month and said it destroyed its entire cantaloupe crop in response to the outbreak.
The death toll was at four early last week, and health officials warned it could continue to jump because it can take several weeks for someone to get sick from listeria.
“That long incubation period is a real problem,” CDC spokesman Dr. Robert Tauxe told The Associated Press. “People who ate a contaminated food two weeks ago or even a week ago could still be falling sick weeks later.”
The deadliest listeria poisoning in 20 years was in 1998, when 21 people died after eating bad hot dogs and deli meat.
