Five more people have died of food poisoning after eating sausages popular across the country.
The victims were from Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico and South Carolina and had all consumed Boar’s Head products contaminated with the bacteria Listeria.
In total, eight people have died, 57 people have been hospitalized and nearly 4,000 tons of meat have been recalled in this outbreak, the largest linked to melons since 2011.
The CDC urges people to check labels before consuming Boar’s Head products, as some have expiration dates of October 2024.
In total, eight people have died and 57 have been hospitalized during the outbreak, with nearly 4,000 tonnes of Boar’s Head deli meat recalled
Recalled products have the code EST. 12612 or P-12612 on the product labels within the USDA inspection mark.
The CDC recommends that purchasers of affected products throw them away or contact stores to return them.
Customers are urged to clean their refrigerators, containers and surfaces that may have come into contact with sliced deli meat.
The health authority had previously recommended not consuming deli meat unless it had been reheated to an internal temperature of 74 degrees Celsius – a temperature high enough to kill the bacteria.
Refrigerating the meat does not eliminate listeria.
The bacteria can survive on surfaces for weeks and can get into cutting tools and countertops that are not cleaned thoroughly on a regular basis.
Listeria, which kills about one in five people, is particularly dangerous for the elderly, pregnant women and people with pre-existing medical conditions.
These people’s immune systems are weaker, so they may be less able to fight off an infection.
Symptoms can begin a few days to ten weeks after infection and initially manifest as fever, chills, stomach cramps and diarrhea.
However, as the infection progresses, patients may also experience convulsions, loss of balance and confusion.
If the bacteria spread in the blood and cause sepsis (organ failure), or if they infect nerves and meninges and cause encephalitis (inflammation of the meninges), it can be fatal.
Infections can be treated with antibiotics given intravenously that can kill the bacteria.
One victim of the outbreak was 88-year-old father of three and Holocaust survivor Günter “Garshon” Morgenstein.
Gunter ‘Garshon’ Morgenstein, a father of three from Newport, Virginia, is pictured above with his wife Peggy. He died of a listeria infection
Sue Fleming, 88, and her husband Patrick, 76, are suing sausage maker Boar’s Head and the shop where they bought the meat after Mrs Fleming became “terminally ill” with listeria
Last month, a few days after eating a Boar’s Head sausage, he became tired and had trouble breathing – and was admitted to hospital.
Doctors said he was infected with listeria and as a result developed meningitis, which caused fatal brain inflammation.
Another Missouri woman became “deathly ill” after eating a common sausage linked to a nationwide listeria outbreak.
Now 88-year-old Sue Fleming, who lives with her 76-year-old husband Patrick, is suing the manufacturer.
In June, Ms Fleming ate a Boar’s Head liver sausage after purchasing it at her local grocery store.
But in the days that followed, she said she suffered from nausea, diarrhea and stomach cramps before experiencing tremors and pain all over her body.
She was hospitalized, where tests confirmed a listeria infection, according to the lawsuit. She spent nine days in intensive care and 11 days in rehab, but claims she still suffers neurological symptoms and has not yet regained her strength.
The couple is now suing Boar’s Head for over $25,000 to cover medical and legal costs as well as damage to their “joy of life” and their marital relationship.
