18 people now dead from Cantaloupes

[underpants]

Cantaloupe toll rises to 100 sick and 18 dead, CDC says
At least 100 people are sick and 18 have died after eating listeria-tainted cantaloupe in an ongoing food poisoning outbreak that has spread to 20 states, federal health officials reported Tuesday.

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said they expect the number of illnesses from four outbreak strains of listeria to rise through October and beyond, but the toll could well surpass a listeria outbreak in hot dogs and deli meat that claimed 21 lives in 1998.



Listeria infections are particularly dangerous for older people, those with weak immune systems and pregnant women. Two of the victims in the outbreak are pregnant, and the outcome of the pregnancies is being monitored.

The reported deaths include five in Colorado, five in New Mexico, two each in Texas and Kansas and one each in Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma, according to the CDC. Officials in several states are continuing to investigate reports of illness.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44777271/ns/today-today_health/t/cantaloupe-toll-rises-sick-dead-cdc-says/

[maddezmom]

1. pretty scary stuff. right before this outbreak I'd gotten my kids to trade in

watermelon for cantaloupe since it was about 1/2 the price in my area. :(

[Demeter]

2. Any Idea How they got tainted?

[hobbit709]

3. Good thing I don't like cantaloupes

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. I ate cantaloup for three days while this was happening.

Never once did I read that there was a one month incubation period for Listeria until a week later when they added Florida to the list.

[seabeyond]

5. i have stopped buying cantaloupe until i get an all clear. and not really

paying attention, so gonna guess will be a while before i buy it