Listeria Linked To Salad Kills 2, Including 1 In Wisconsin

WISCONSIN — A listeria outbreak found in packaged salads has sickened 17 people across 13 states the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced.

The illness caused the death of one Wisconsin resident, federal health officials said. Another person died in Michigan.

Of those who got sick after eating the salads, 13 had to be hospitalized, the agency said.

These are the states reporting illnesses are Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wisconsin.

The true number of people who got sick after eating the contaminated salads is likely much higher than the number of illnesses reported, the CDC said. The illnesses may not be limited to the 13 states.

The people who were sickened in the listeria outbreaks ranged in age from 50 to 94, and the median age was 75.

Some people likely recovered without seeking medical care or were never tested, the agency said. In addition, recent illnesses may not have been reported yet because it usually takes three weeks to a month to determine if a listeria illness is part of an outbreak.

State and local public health officials are interviewing the people who got sick, or their family members, to determine what they ate before they became ill. The CDC said that of the nine people interviewed so far, 89 percent ate the packaged salads, and two of them remembered they had eaten a specific brand — one sold by Dole and the other under the Little Salad Bar brand.

Healthy people who eat listeria-contaminated products typically experience no or only short-term symptoms, including a high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abominable pain and diarrhea; it also may cause miscarriage or stillbirth among pregnant women.