At least 13 killed in listeria outbreak in U.S.

At least 13 people had been killed amid 72 sickened in 18 states in listeria outbreak traced to Colorado cantaloupes, making it the most deadly U.S. outbreak of food-borne infection since 1998, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday in a statement posted on its website. Of the 13 deaths, four were in New Mexico, two were in Colorado, two were in Texas, and there was one each in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Victims range in age from 35 to 96 years, with an average age of 78. All of the illnesses started on or after July 31. The figures were the latest confirmed as of Monday morning, according to the CDC. But they may well rise in the still-widening outbreak as state and local officials are investigating three additional deaths that may be connected. In 1998, 21 people died from listeria linked to tainted hot dogs, according to a CDC online database. The Food and Drug Administration on Sept. 14 warned consumers not to eat cantaloupes from Colorado's Rocky Ford region shipped by Jensen Farms. The cantaloupes with the brand name Rocky Ford were distributed from July 29 to Sept. 10 in at least 17 states. Listeria is a common bacterium that typically causes mild illness in healthy people, but can cause severe illness in older people and those with compromised immune systems. It also can cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women and severe infections in new babies.Listeria infections lead to about 1,600 serious illnesses each year and about 260 people die, according to the CDC. The CDC estimates that about 48 million people in the U.S. each year get sick from tainted food, with about 128,000 hospitalized and 3,000 deaths.