Contaminated cantaloupe grown in Colorado have killed 23 people, making this fall’s food-poisoning outbreak the second-deadliest on record.
The latest deaths reported Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pushed the listeria outbreak to second on the deadliest list since the federal agency began keeping track decades ago.
The worst food-borne outbreak was a 1985 listeria poisoning from Mexican-style unpasteurized cheese, which killed more than 40 people in the United States.
In 1998, 21 deaths were linked to listeria-contaminated hot dogs and other prepared meats.
As of this week, 116 people in 25 states have been sickened by the cantaloupe grown at Jensen Farms in Holly. Federal and state authorities have tested fruit, machinery and soil on the farm but have not yet released the cause of the contamination.
The cantaloupes were recalled Sept. 14. Still, health officials continue to link illnesses to the melons because it can take up to two months for symptoms of listeria poisoning, which include high fever, nausea and gastrointestinal issues, to appear.
Listeria can continue to grow in cantaloupe in a refrigerator. CDC officials advised anyone who has a Jensen Farms cantaloupe to throw it out.
The average age of people sickened in this outbreak is 78.
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com
