Federal officials announced Friday that two people in the US have died while 28 others were hospitalized due to a listeria outbreak that's been linked to sliced deli meat .
About a dozen states in the Midwest and East Coast have felt the effects of the outbreak, reporting a number of listeria cases, which is a bacteria that causes deadly foodborne illnesses that can complicate pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who sent out a news release. The two deaths were in Illinois and New Jersey.
Maryland reported six cases, while Missouri, Virginia, Georgia, and Massachusetts each had two cases. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina each had one case reported. New York has had the most cases out of any state so far: seven, according to CDC data.
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Samples of the afflicted were collected between May 29 and July 5. In interviews, 16 of the total 18 people infected said they ate sliced meat sold at deli counters, the CDC said most cited deli-sliced turkey, liverwurst and ham. An investigation on which particular meats may contain bacteria is underway. At the moment, there is no evidence indicating prepackaged deli meats were culpable in making people sick.
“This information suggests that meats sliced at the deli are a likely source of this outbreak. However, at this time CDC doesn’t have enough information to say which deli meats are the source of this outbreak,” the agency said in a statement published on its website Friday.
The CDC didn’t mandate a food recall as of early Saturday, because it remains unclear what specific products have been contaminated with the bacteria now blamed for two deaths and 28 hospitalizations across 12 states. This means the contaminated food may still be in circulation, and consumers should consider their personal risk level when consuming deli meats.
Higher risks individuals, like pregnant women, should avoid consuming sliced deli meats without heating the meats to 165 degrees or until they're steaming hot, the CDC recommends. Listeria could cause other deadly ailments when the bacteria spreads from the stomach to other parts of the body. In pregnant women, the disease could cause a miscarriage. Additionally, the disease could prompt fever, fatigue and muscle aches.
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In other persons, listeria could cause headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions, along with fever and muscle aches. Typically, symptoms begin anywhere between a week to four weeks after the individual ingested the contaminated food, but in some cases start as early as the same day or more than two months later.
Officials at the CDC strongly recommend contacting your healthcare provider if you are experiencing symptoms of listeria and have recently eaten sliced deli meat.
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