An infection believed to be linked to contaminated meat- listeria- has been reported in several US states, a report said. The illness causes fever, diarrhoea and muscle pains, Newsweek reported. The illness can be serious for those who are pregnant, above the age of 65 or have weakened immunity, it was reported.
Until last week, at least 16 cases of listeria were reported across New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois, California and Massachusetts, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
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One pregnant woman also lost her baby after becoming ill while another patient died, it was reported. In all, thirteen have been hospitalised owing to the listeria infection.
The CDC said that the actual number of illnesses is likely to be higher than what is recorded because many people are likely to recover from the listeria infection without medical care and may not have tested for the infection.
"CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are collecting different types of data to investigate a multistate outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections," an FDA spokesperson told Newsweek.
{{/usCountry}}"CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are collecting different types of data to investigate a multistate outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections," an FDA spokesperson told Newsweek.
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The report also said that majority of the patients said that they had eaten cheese or meat from deli counters. “A contaminated food likely introduced the outbreak strain of Listeria into delis in multiple states,” the report said citing experts who have found similarities between the bacteria samples from patients.
"This suggests that people in this outbreak got sick from the same food," CDC said advising people at high risk of having severe listeria to avoid eating cheese or meat from delis, unless reheated properly.