A Listeria death in Wyoming has now officially been linked to a nationwide outbreak. Results returned Tuesday morning show a Sheridan County woman died after eating cantaloupe from Jensen Farms in Holly, Colorado. Federal health officials say not including this death 18 people have now died. There are now 100 cases of illnesses in 20 states.
In addition, JoNel Aleccia of MSNBC reports tonight, “Woman’s miscarriage blamed on listeria-tainted cantaloupe.” According to JoNel:
A pregnant Iowa woman has suffered a miscarriage after contracting a listeria infection tied to tainted cantaloupe, underscoring the seriousness of the ongoing outbreak in mothers-to-be, state health officials said.
The woman, who is an adult between the ages of 18 and 40 from northwest Iowa, came down with symptoms recently, a few weeks after eating the contaminated cantaloupe. She was still early in her pregnancy, said Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, the Iowa Department of Public Health medical examiner.
“My understanding was that this played a substantial role in the miscarriage,” said Quinlisk, who couldn’t identify the woman more specifically because of privacy concerns. …
The Iowa case was the first reported in that state and one of three infections reported in pregnant women. Two of the women have continued their pregnancies and are being monitored, said CDC officials, who could not immediately identify which states they were from.
I think that moves the needle from 18 to 20 deaths.