Five more people died from food poisoning after consuming popular sausages sold throughout the country.
The victims were from Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico and South Carolina and all had consumed Boar’s Head products contaminated with listeria bacteria.
In total, eight people have died in the outbreak, the largest since 2011 linked to melon, and 57 have been hospitalized, while nearly 4,000 tons of meat have been recalled.
CDC urges people to check inspection labels before consuming any Boar’s Head products, as some have expiration dates as late as October 2024.
In total, eight people have died during the outbreak and 57 have been hospitalised, and nearly 4,000 tonnes of Boar’s Head cold cuts have been recalled.
The recalled products have EST codes 12612 or P-12612 inside the USDA mark of inspection on the product labels.
CDC recommends that people who purchased the affected products throw them away or contact stores to request refunds.
Customers are urged to clean their refrigerators, containers and surfaces that may have come into contact with cut meats.
The health agency previously recommended against eating cold cuts unless they were reheated to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature high enough to kill bacteria.
Keeping meats cold does not eliminate listeria.
Bacteria can persist on surfaces for weeks, reaching cutting tools and countertops that are not thoroughly cleaned regularly.
Listeria, which kills about one in five people it infects, is particularly dangerous for the elderly, pregnant women and those with underlying health problems.
These people have weaker immune systems, which means they may be less able to fight off an infection.
Symptoms may begin a few days or 10 weeks after infection, and initially start as fever, chills, stomach cramps, and diarrhea.
But as the infection progresses, patients may also experience seizures, loss of balance and confusion.
The bacteria can be fatal if it spreads to the blood and causes sepsis (where organs begin to stop working) or infects the nerves and lining of the brain causing encephalitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain).
Infections can be treated with antibiotics, which are given intravenously and can kill bacteria.
One victim of the outbreak was Günter “Garshon” Morgenstein, 88, a father of three and a Holocaust survivor.
Pictured above is Gunter “Garshon” Morgenstein, a father of three from Newport, Virginia, with his wife Peggy. He died after suffering from a listeria infection.
Last month, days after eating a Boar’s Head sausage, he felt fatigued and began having trouble breathing and was rushed to hospital.
Doctors said he was infected with listeria and had developed meningitis as a result, which caused a fatal brain swelling.
Another Missouri woman has fallen ‘deathly ill’ after eating a common sausage linked to a nationwide listeria outbreak.
Now Sue Fleming, 88, who lives with her husband Patrick, 76, is suing the manufacturer.
