Death toll from listeria-tainted cantaloupes rises to 18

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The death toll from the nation’s deadliest food-borne outbreak in more than a decade has increased to 18, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday.

In a posting on its website, the Atlanta-based agency said that, since last week, it has confirmed three more deaths from the outbreak linked to listeria-tainted cantaloupes grown in Colorado. A total of 100 people in 20 states have been sickened in the outbreak, the CDC said.

The latest deaths include two more in Colorado, bringing the total there to five and one more in Kansas, doubling the number of victims there. Five deaths were reported in New Mexico and two in Texas. Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma have reported one each.

Jensen Farms in Colorado recalled its cantaloupes on Sept. 14 after the melons were found to have been contaminated by four strains of Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.

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