020929 Listeria Outbreak in Northeast Puzzles Officials

Health officials are trying to pinpoint the source of a listeria outbreak being blamed for at least 10 deaths in the Northeast.

Officials in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey and Connecticut are investigating a spree of cases of the typically food-borne illness that have occurred since June.

New Jersey, where four of the deaths occurred, generally sees between 20 and 30 cases of listeriosis -- as the infection is called -- each year. However, over the last three months it has recorded 17 cases, says Marilyn Riley, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Health and Senior Services.

Riley says germ sleuths at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are trying to determine if the four fatalities were caused by the outbreak strain of listeria.

Pennsylvania has logged 25 cases of listeria poisoning this summer, the most recent one last Thursday -- as much as it has in a typical year, says Richard McGarvey, spokesman for that state's Department of Health. Four of those were fatal, and all of the deaths occurred in the past two months. "The unfortunate thing is that we don't have a source yet," McGarvey says.

Genetic fingerprinting has determined that 10 of the illnesses in Pennsylvania were definitely connected to the same strain of Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, McGarvey says. The results of tests on the others are pending.

The two other deaths occurred in New York City. City health officials said Monday the bugs implicated in the fatal cases were identical to those in Pennsylvania. In addition, six other patients in the area have contracted the same strain of listeria.

Listeria preys on the old and infirm, people with weakened immune systems. True to form, all of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey deaths involved elderly patients. The New York deaths occurred in people with compromised immunity.

Pregnant women are also a high-risk group, as the infection can lead to miscarriage.

Listeria poisoning can cause high fevers, diarrhea and muscle aches, as well as encephalitis and meningitis, which are infections of the brain and its lining.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cautioned people particularly vulnerable to listeriosis to avoid eating high-risk foods. These include uncooked or under-heated hot dogs and lunch meats; soft cheeses such as Feta, Brie and Camembert, as well as blue cheeses and Mexican "queso blanco fresco" cheese. Refrigerated smoked fish, like lox or nova, is off limits, too, unless it has been cooked, as are unpasteurized dairy products.

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