The Fatalities
The two deaths were recorded in Illinois and New Jersey after both patients were hospitalized due to the listeria outbreak.
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In total, 28 people across 12 states have been admitted to hospital with a listeria infection since May.
What Is Listeria?
Listeria is a food borne bacterial illness that can be extremely serious for pregnant women, people older than 65, and people with autoimmune diseases.
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The bacteria is commonly found in deli meats, unpasteurized milk products and pre-sliced fruits and vegetables.
What Are the Symptoms?
If you develop a listeria infection you might begin to experience fever, chills, muscle aches, nausea, and diarrhea.
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The symptoms can be felt up to 30 days after eating contaminated foods while the infections works its way through your body.
Serious Issue To Watch For
There are some telltale signs that listeria has spread to the nervous system. In this case, a person experiencing these symptoms should seek medical help immediately.
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Some of the more serious side effects are headache, stiff neck, confusion or changes in alertness, loss of balance, or convulsions.
Symptoms in Pregnant Women
One of the most at-risk groups of people for a listeria outbreak are pregnant women.
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Listeria can be devastating for the mother as it can cause a quick death of the baby in the women during a life threatening infection. Pregnant women should try to avoid commonly infected foods for this reason.
Where Did the Infections Occur?
The CDC noted that “Many people in this outbreak are reporting eating meats that they had sliced at deli counters.”
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So far, severe illnesses have been reported in New York, Maryland, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Matching Samples
The CDC was able to discover where the infections started form as patients gave samples and tested positive for the same strain of listeria between May 29 and July 5.
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The affected people ranged from ages 32 to 94 with one pregnant woman who thankfully recovered fully already with no harm to her unborn baby.
Inspection Found the Culprit
The CDC expedited a health inspection of the suspected deli meat using a national database of DNA fingerprints of bacteria that cause food borne illnesses.
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Through whole genome sequencing, it was quickly discovered that the listeria came from suppliers of meats, sliced at deli counters.
Why Is Listeria Common in Delis?
The reason why listeria outbreaks are so common with deli meats and delis in general is that “Listeria spreads easily among deli equipment, surfaces, hands and food,” the CDC says.
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The group also noted that “Refrigeration does not kill Listeria, but reheating to a high enough temperature before eating will kill any germs that may be on these meats.”
Common Reason for Illnesses
Currently, listeria infections are the third leading cause of death from food borne illnesses in the United States.
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Other common bacteria found in food are salmonella and e. coli infections.
Two People Dead From Ice Cream This Year
Health authorities in Canada reported that two people died from a listeriosis outbreak due to contaminated plant-based ice cream earlier this month.
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Dozens of ice cream products were recalled by the manufacturer of Totally Cool after the Food and Drug Administration warned of a possible listeria outbreak.