Listeria outbreak from Boar's Head deli meat sickens 4th person on Long Island
Boar’s Head has recalled more than 7 million pounds of deli meat since late July after a listeria contamination was traced to its plant in Jarratt, Va. Credit: Getty Images / Justin Sullivan
A fourth case of listeria on Long Island was linked to an outbreak from tainted deli meat that has sickened dozens of people in 13 states since the spring.
That case, New York's latest to be confirmed, was in Nassau, bringing the county's known total to two. There have also been two cases in Suffolk and six in New York City, according to Danielle DeSouza, a spokeswoman for the state Health Department who provided the totals Wednesday. More details on who is sick and where they got the meat have not been disclosed.
Statewide, there have been at least 15 cases, DeSouza said. Nationally, at least three people had died from the outbreak, all outside New York, as of earlier this week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The prognosis of the latest patient wasn't disclosed Wednesday.
The outbreak's culprit has been identified as Boar’s Head liverwurst. Over 7 million pounds of deli meat have been recalled as a result. The company did not respond to an email or phone call Wednesday afternoon.
According to the CDC, listeriosis is an infection typically caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium listeria monocytogenes. About 1,600 people get the infection every year, and about 260 die. It’s most likely to sicken pregnant women and their newborns, as well as adults 65 or older and people who are immunocompromised.
Litigation in several jurisdictions is ongoing with Boar's Head over the outbreak.
It's not just deli meat that can transmit listeria. There have been dozens of outbreaks since the early 1980s, including from meats, dairy products and produce.
There was one in February connected to queso fresco and cotija cheese that caused 26 cases and two deaths in 11 states, and another listeria outbreak connected to tainted ice cream, leading to a recall last month.
The first conclusively recognized outbreak was in Canada in 1981, associated with the consumption of tainted coleslaw, according to a 2013 article in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The first such outbreak in the United States was in 1983, transmitted via pasteurized milk.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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