Listeria, a serious infection caused by eating contaminated foods, has been confirmed to cause 20 cases in the state of Florida.Source: The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). ORLANDO, Fla. - One death and nearly two dozen hospitalizations are tied to a new listeria outbreak of unknown origin, health officials said Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not identified a food that might be spreading the deadly bacteria, but officials said the public should be alert to symptoms and the possibility of infection.Officials say nearly all the 23 people known to have been infected in the outbreak either live in or traveled to Florida about a month before they got sick.Symptoms of listeria include fever, muscle aches, nausea, and diarrhea.
It can be treated with antibiotics, but it is especially dangerous to pregnant women, newborns, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems.Listeria is one of the most dangerous forms of food poisoning, and 22 of the infected people were hospitalized.
One person from Illinois died and one pregnant woman lost her fetus, the CDC said. Officials did not say whether the person who died was the pregnant woman who lost the fetus.Listeria is most likely to sicken people who are pregnant and their newborns, people over the age of 65, and people with weakened immune systems.The bacteria are likely to affect people who are pregnant and their newborns, adults 65 years or older, and people with a weakened immune system.