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The 2011 United States listeriosis outbreak was a widespread outbreak of ''Listeria monocytogenes'' food poisoning across 28 US states that resulted from contaminated cantaloupes linked to Jensen Farms of Holly, Colorado. As of the final report on December 8, 2011, there were 30 deaths and 147 total confirmed cases since the beginning of the first recorded case on July 31, 2011.〔 It was the worst foodborne illness outbreak in the United States, measured by the number of deaths, since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking outbreaks in the 1970s, or tied with the worst, an outbreak of listeria from cheese in 1985, depending on which CDC report is used. ==Origin and spread== Listeriosis is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Listeria monocytogenes''. The outbreak was determined to originate from Jensen Farms in Holly, Colorado after ''Listeria monocytogenes'' was found in cantaloupe samples at a Jensen Farms store in Denver, Colorado and at the farm's packaging plant. The batch of cantaloupes had been shipped out over a period from July 29 through September 10 to twenty-five states, including Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. The outbreak was first reported by the Centers for Disease Control on September 12, where they stated that "fifteen people in four states had been infected". On September 21, a new report was released by the CDC, bringing the number of deaths to 13 and the number of confirmed cases to 72. The report also stated that further deaths were being investigated to determine if they had also been caused by Listeria infection. The CDC report also stated that, as Listeria "only sickens the elderly, pregnant women and others with compromised immune systems", the median age of all the people that had been infected was 78. On September 30, an update was released by the CDC, reporting that as of 11 am (EDT) Sep 29, 2011 the number of confirmed cases was 84, number of deaths was 15 and the number of states involved was 19. On October 4, the CDC updated their report to 100 infected individuals in 20 states and a total of 18 deaths from the outbreak. The outbreak was shown to have continued to spread to new states, with the CDC update on October 7 stating that the number of cases had risen to 109 in 23 states and that three more people had died to bring the death toll to 21. The CDC update on October 12 put the number of cases at 116 with 23 deaths. An update on October 18 increased the number of cases to 123 and the number of deaths to 25. The October 25 update raised the number of cases to 133, with three more people dying to raise the total to 28. A final update on December 8 confirmed 146 cases and 30 deaths. Fatalities occurred in Colorado (8), Indiana (1), Kansas (3), Louisiana (2), Maryland (1), Missouri (3), Nebraska (1), New Mexico (5), New York (2), Oklahoma (1), Texas (2), and Wyoming (1). Among persons who died, ages ranged from 48 to 96 years, with a median age of 82.5 years. In addition, one woman pregnant at the time of illness had a miscarriage.〔 Listeria infections can cause pregnant women to miscarry; the first miscarriage attributed to the 2011 outbreak was reported in early October, in a woman living in Iowa. Pregnant women often are advised to avoid foods, such as unpasteurized cheese and hot dogs, that are known to have the potential to carry Listeria, but fruits such as cantaloupe had not previously been identified as sources of concern. No list of retailers selling the infected cantaloupes was released by either the government or Jensen Farms. Although the last shipment was September 10 and the fruit had a two-week shelf life, as of September 29, the number of illnesses and deaths were expected to continue rising, because the incubation period could exceed one month. Recalls by retailers which had sold the Jensen Farms cantaloupes included Kroger (September 15), Safeway (September 15), Aldi (September 16), and US Foods (September 16). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2011 United States listeriosis outbreak」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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