Aug. 29, 2024 – The number of deaths has risen to nine in the listeria outbreak linked to certain Boar’s Head products.
It’s also now the largest outbreak since one linked to cantaloupe in 2011, when 33 people died.
The CDC’s latest update on the Boar’s Head outbreak says 57 people have been hospitalized since May. People in 18 states have been sickened: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The most illnesses were reported in New York, where 17 people were sickened, followed by Maryland with eight and New Jersey with five.
One person just recently began having symptoms in mid-August, highlighting the CDC’s caution that it can take up to 10 weeks before an infection from the bacteria is apparent. Common symptoms are a fever, muscle aches, and tiredness, but they can also include a headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, or seizures.
The CDC is urging people to check their refrigerators again for the affected products and clean anywhere the products were stored or used, noting that listeria is “a hardy germ.”
The nationwide recall was first issued in late July for specific Boar's Head liverwurst products (a type of bologna) that were sliced at deli counters, and days later the U.S. Department of Agriculture published an expanded recall list of 71 products, comprising all of the products produced at a single Boar’s Head facility in Virginia where the liverwurst was made. Early in the investigation, laboratory testing by Maryland health officials confirmed Listeria monocytogenes in an unopened package of liverwurst.
The Boar’s Head website currently lists 57 products as being under recall, including varieties of ham, bologna, bacon, frankfurters, and sausage. Affected products were sliced fresh at deli counters or are pre-packaged bacon, frankfurter, or sausage products, according to the Aug. 15 update on the Boar’s Head website.
