A listeria outbreak linked to a variety of melons from Colorado has infected 72 people in the United States and killed 13, US health officials have said.
The food-borne outbreak is the deadliest in the United States in more than a decade, exceeding the 2008-2009 salmonella outbreak from tainted peanuts that killed nine and infected more than 700 people in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
So far, 18 states have reported infections from one of the four strains of listeria involved in the outbreak, the body said.
Of the 13 deaths, four were in New Mexico, two were in Colorado, two were in Texas, and there was one each in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. All of the illnesses started on or after July 31st.
The CDC has traced the source of the outbreak to cantaloupes grown at Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado.
Earlier this month, the US Food and Drug Administration confirmed that it found Listeria monocytogenes, the bacterial strain found in the tainted cantaloupes, in samples of melons from Jensen Farms.
The company issued a recall on September 14th of its Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupes in response to the outbreak. The fruit was shipped to at least 17 states between July 29th and September 10th, 2011.
The FDA has advised consumers to throw out the recalled melons.
Listeria bacteria thrive in low temperatures. Outbreaks are usually associated with deli meats, unpasteurised cheeses and smoked refrigerated seafood products.
The outbreak in melons is the deadliest in the United States since a 1998 multistate listeria outbreak involving contaminated hot dogs and deli meats that killed 32 people and sickened 101.
According to the CDC, some 1,600 people become sick with listeriosis and 260 of them die from the infections.
People with weakened immune systems are most vulnerable. Pregnant women are 20 times more likely than healthy adults to get listeriosis, and people with Aids are nearly 300 times more likely to get the infection than other people, the CDC said on its website.
Reuters