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Listeriosis outbreak linked to raw milk cheese kills two

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A U.S. outbreak of listeriosis linked to soft raw milk cheese killed two of the six patients who were sickened, the CDC announced.

The cheese manufacturer — Walton, New York-based Vulto Creamery — recalled all lots of its Ouleout, Miranda, Heinennellie and Willowemoc soft wash-rind raw milk cheeses on March 7. The products had been shipped throughout the country, the CDC announced, and most were sold in the Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states, California and Chicago, as well as Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C.

Of the six infections reported since Sept. 1, 2016, three occurred in New York and one in Florida. A patient in Connecticut and one in Vermont succumbed to the illness. One of the patients was a newborn, but the CDC did not specify whether that was one of the fatal cases.

The illness can be particularly dangerous to fetuses.

“When listeriosis occurs during pregnancy, it can cause miscarriage, stillbirth or newborn death,” CDC spokeswoman Brittany Behm, MPH, told Infectious Disease News. “Listeriosis during pregnancy results in fetal loss in about 20% of cases and newborn death in about 3% of cases.”

Regarding the current outbreak, evidence points to Vulto Creamery as its likely source, according to the CDC, which is investigating the infections along with the FDA and state health authorities.

All six infected patients were hospitalized and said they had eaten several types of soft cheese in the month prior to their sickness, the CDC reported. Investigators found the outbreak strain in samples from three wheels of Ouleout cheese taken from the creamery, the agency added.

Listeriosis is caused by the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium, which most often infects hosts when they eat contaminated food. The CDC estimates that of the roughly 1,600 people who are infected by the disease each year, about 260 — or 16% — die.  

Those most susceptible to listeriosis infection are pregnant women and their newborns, seniors and people with weakened immune systems. – by Joe Green