WASHINGTON, August 20, 2012- A farm in southwestern Indiana is linked to an outbreak of salmonella in cantaloupe, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported has killed two people and infected 141.
According to a Friday announcement from the CDC, 141 people reported being infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium in 20 states. Two people died from the outbreak in Kentucky and a total of 31 people have been hospitalized.
The CDC announcement said there is no connection between this Salmonella outbreak and the 2011 multistate outbreak of listeriosis linked to whole cantaloupes from Jensen Farms, Colorado.
The Indiana farm, unnamed by state health officials, contacted its distributors to withdraw its cantaloupe from the marketplace and agreed to stop shipping any more cantaloupes for the rest of the growing season.
In interviews conducted by health officials, eighteen of 24 ill persons reported consuming cantaloupe in the week before their illness began. The Kentucky Division of Laboratory Services isolated the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium from two cantaloupes collected from a retail location in Kentucky. The CDC also reported that illnesses that occurred after July 26, 2012, might not be reported yet due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill and when the illness is reported.
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