Health officials confirmed a listeria outbreak in the US, which they believed originated in Florida. The outbreak resulted in one death in Illinois, while 22 people were hospitalized.
Five women were pregnant, according to the health officials, and one of the patients lost a baby. The health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had not yet identified the source of the illness.
Listeria Outbreak in Florida and Other States
Listeriosis is a serious infection caused by Listeria monocytogenes. It's one of the most serious foodborne diseases one gets after consuming contaminated food.
According to CDC, there were 12 people on the record with listeriosis and most of them lived in or traveled to Florida. Other patients came from Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The death was reported from Illinois. However, the outbreak may not be limited to the mentioned states.
The health officials said the patients had been exposed to the contaminated food a month ago. Some people were not tested for Listeria, while some recovered without medical care, the agency added.
The health officials warned the public to stay alert and check for symptoms and possible infection of the listeria bacteria.
A person exposed to the bacteria experiences fever, diarrhea, nausea, and muscle aches. Pregnant women are 10 times more likely to acquire the disease than the other women. A study also shows that pregnant Hispanic women are 24 times more likely to be infected by foodborne bacterial illness than other people.
CDC said people with compromised immune systems and people over 65 are also at high risk. The disease has a fatality rate of 20%. Twenty percent of pregnant women exposed to the bacteria may experience fetal loss.
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High-risk individuals experiencing listeria symptoms are advised to contact the health care provider immediately. CDC is pleading to the public to help resolve the outbreak by providing the information the agency needs.
Health officials have been interviewing the people who had the symptoms to learn the common food they consumed. However, they were not able to figure it out yet.
The agency asked the person with symptoms to remember as much as they could about the food they ate in the previous month before they got sick. People with symptoms should answer the public health officials' questions about their illness.
Total Count of People Who Get Listeriosis in the US in 2022
CDC said the agency recorded about 1,600 listeria cases in the US.
In the previous outbreak, listeria was linked to several food items such as packaged salads, fully cooked chicken, Queso Fresco, deli meats, enoki mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs, pork products, frozen vegetables, and raw milk.
According to the health protection agency, proper meal preparation, such as washing the vegetables and cooking the meat thoroughly, helps avoid food contamination. They also suggest avoiding unpasteurized milk such as raw milk.
Earlier in June, Kansas City-based cheese company Paris Brothers, Inc. announced a voluntary recall of its cheeses as there could be possible contamination.
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