Sue Fleming, a lifelong lover of liverwurst, used to savor the smoked sausage her husband brought home every few weeks from the grocery store.
He always made sure to buy his favorite, Boar’s Head Braunschweiger, even though it was more expensive than other brands.
“My whole family loves braunschweiger,” he told reporters. “It’s best with bread, lettuce, a little mayonnaise and a slice of pickle.”
But late last month, the 88-year-old man from High Ridge, Missouri, fell “deadly ill” after contracting listeria food poisoning from the snack.
What followed was nine days of urgent care in the hospital, where the family feared losing her, and another 11 in a rehabilitation center.
After being discharged, Ms Fleming was too weak to walk for weeks, while the retired psychotherapist and author continues to suffer from neurological problems.
Sue Fleming pictured at home with her husband Patrick after her injury.
“I was so scared for Sue and I was afraid I was going to lose her,” said her husband, Patrick Fleming, 76.
The couple filed a lawsuit on July 26 against Boar’s Head and Schnuck Markets Inc, which sold the deli meat, seeking more than $25,000 to cover medical and legal costs.
Boar’s Head has recalled more than 7 million pounds of its sausages since the contamination was discovered.
As of early August, 43 people had become ill during the outbreak and three had died (one death in New Jersey, one in Illinois and one in Virginia).
Another person who has filed lawsuits against the company is pregnant Minnesota woman Ashley Solberg.
She filed a lawsuit on August 7 alleging that food poisoning caused by Boar’s Head products nearly caused her to lose her second child, with whom she was already 35 weeks pregnant at the time.
She had bought the meat at a Publix supermarket in Hollywood, Florida, but became seriously ill upon returning to Minnesota. The mother spent six days in the hospital and had to receive antibiotics for more than a week.
The couple has filed a lawsuit against Boar’s Head over the poisoning.
Fleming’s illness underscores the potential severity of listeria infections in vulnerable people, particularly the elderly.
Boar’s Head also faces a class-action lawsuit filed Aug. 1 in federal court in New York.
Rita Torres of Queens County alleges that the company misrepresented and misled its products and that she would not have purchased them if the company had warned her that they were contaminated with listeria.
Health officials in Maryland and New York detected listeria in unopened Boar’s Head liverwurst products and later confirmed it was the same strain of bacteria that was making people sick. The company issued an initial recall on July 25 and then expanded it on July 30 to include more than 70 products, manufactured at its plant in Jarratt, Virginia.
Fleming’s illness highlights the potential severity of listeria infections in vulnerable people, particularly those who are older, pregnant or have weakened immune systems. Victims of the outbreak range in age from 32 to 94, with a median age of 74, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For most people, food poisoning caused by bacteria such as listeria is a nuisance that can involve a few days of nausea and diarrhea. But for those at higher risk, infections can be more dangerous and even deadly, said Barbara Kowalcyk, director of the Institute for Food and Nutrition Security at George Washington University.
“The pathogen can pass from the gut into the blood and cause invasive disease,” Kowalcyk said.
Listeria infections cause about 1,600 illnesses each year in the United States and about 260 people die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the CDC, pregnant women are 10 times more likely to get infections caused by listeria than the general population. These infections can cause miscarriages or serious illness in babies after birth. One pregnant woman became ill during the outbreak, but did not lose her baby, according to the CDC.
In Missouri, Fleming’s doctors feared she had sepsis, a dangerous blood infection, or that the bacteria had spread to her heart or brain. But the infection worsened Fleming’s previous health problems, including severe spinal arthritis. She was sick for weeks and was too weak to walk, her husband said.
Listeria is also dangerous for older people, who may eat less varied diets and keep food for longer periods. Unlike other germs, the bacteria survive and even grow during refrigeration, Kowalcyk said. Previous listeria outbreaks linked to cantaloupe, for example, harmed a higher proportion of older people who bought pre-cut cantaloupe rather than whole cantaloupe.
Symptoms of a listeria infection can take days or weeks to appear, making it difficult to determine what caused it. Because all listeria infections must be reported, county health officials called Fleming and asked him to fill out a detailed questionnaire that included “dozens and dozens” of foods, Patrick Fleming said.
The couple narrowed the list of possible culprits to prepared tuna salad, chicken salad, pepperjack cheese and braunschweiger.
Boar’s Head is urging consumers to throw away the recalled products or return them to the store or get their money back. At this point, the sausages affected by the Boar’s Head recall should no longer be available for sale in local stores, Kowalcyk said. Consumers can ask store managers if they have complied with the recall and if they have sanitized their slicers.
Heating deli meat until it is steaming hot, at a temperature of about 165 degrees Fahrenheit, can kill bacteria.
But if there’s any doubt, “throw it in the trash,” Kowalcyk said. “Is it worth throwing away a few dollars worth of deli meat to prevent serious illness?”