CHICAGO – A listeria outbreak caused by tainted cantaloupes has killed 15 people in the United States and infected 84, health officials said yesterday.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said 19 states have reported infections from one of the four strains of listeria involved in the outbreak.
Of the 15 deaths, five were in New Mexico, three were in Colorado, two were in Texas, and there was one each in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
The cantaloupes were grown by a Colorado company, Jensen Farms, which issued a recall earlier this month. The melons, a type marketed as Rocky Ford cantaloupes were sold around the country. Listeria is a dangerous bacteria that can cause severe illness, among the elderly, the very young and people with compromised immune systems. – (Reuters/ New York Times)