According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the death toll from the listeria outbreak continues to growing, hitting 21 deaths so far. The number of reported illnesses and deaths are expected to continue.
Two new deaths were reported from Indiana and New York on Friday. Deaths from the outbreak have been reported in Indiana, New York, Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
According to the CDC, there have been 109 reported illnesses in 23 different states.
Symptoms of listeria can take up to two months to develop, thus more illnesses are expected in October.
The death toll in the cantaloupe outbreak now matches the death toll in 1998′s outbreak of listeria in hot dogs and deli meats made by Bil Mar Foods, a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corp. The deadliest outbreak in the U.S. was listeria in Mexican-style soft cheese in 1985, which was linked to 52 deaths.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reported state health officials have found listeria in cantaloupes taken from Colorado grocery stores and from victims’ homes, matching strains of the disease found on equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms’ packing facility in Granada, Colorado.
Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo. voluntarily recalled these tainted cantaloupes in after they were linked to listeria illnesses.
