A California infant has died of listeria amid an outbreak linked to some ready-to-eat meat and poultry products that have been recalled.
Eleven people across four states have been infected with the outbreak bacterial strain, and nine of them have been hospitalized, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seven cases were reported in California, two in Illinois, one in New York and one in New Jersey.
Health officials did not provide any additional information about the infant who died in California, including where he lived in the state.
The recalled products are distributed by Yu Shang Food Inc. of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and labeled as being produced in the United States and requiring refrigeration. More than 72,000 pounds of meat and poultry products have been recalled, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said.
Routine testing of Yu Shang Food’s products revealed the presence of Listeria bacteria, the Food Safety and Inspection Service said. A full list of affected products is available here. Recalled products should be returned or thrown away, health officials say, and residents should also clean any refrigerators, surfaces or containers that may have come into contact with them.
According to the CDC, people with listeria may begin to feel sick within two weeks of eating contaminated food. Symptoms can appear the same day the infected food is consumed, or up to 10 weeks later.
Symptoms may include headache, muscle aches, fever, confusion, loss of balance, neck stiffness, and diarrhea.
Those most at risk from listeria are the elderly, pregnant women, newborns and immunocompromised people.
“In pregnant women, infection can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn,” the Food Safety and Inspection Service said.
People infected with Listeria can be treated with antibiotics.
