Canada confirms 4th death in listeriosis outbreak

A third death has been confirmed in a nationwide listeriosis outbreak that might be linked to tainted meat products, Canadian health officials said Friday.
They said the latest confirmed death from the bacterial infection was a woman who died in June at a retirement home in St. Catharine's, Ontario.
"In Ontario, there are three confirmed deaths at this point linked to the investigation," said Robert Clarke of the Public Health Agency of Canada.
A fourth death British Columbia has been linked to the investigation.

Listeriosis is a kind of food poisoning that can be dangerous to the elderly, newborns, pregnant women and people with chronic medical conditions. Symptoms include fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea

Officials said there are 17 known cases in Canada, including the three deaths, with the same strain of listeria bacteria: 13 in Ontario, two in British Columbia, one in Saskatchewan and one in Quebec.
More cases are expected to be found, officials said.
An additional 16 samples from suspected cases are currently being tested to confirm if they are related to the outbreak are related to the outbreak, Clarke said.

Health officials are studying whether there is any connection between the 17 cases and the recall of nearly two dozen types of processed meats manufactured at a Toronto plant owned by Maple Leaf Foods.
Officials said they have positively identified the bacteria in 18 food samples representing six different types of the meat products, but had yet to determine whether the meat was responsible for the outbreak.

While the cause of the contamination at the Toronto plant has yet to be determined, the plant was undergoing three separate sanitation processes, all under the watch of a microbiologist and a sanitation expert.

Officials announced Wednesday that an elderly woman from Ontario was the first fatality to be positively linked to the listeriosis outbreak.
Earlier Friday, officials announced that another elderly woman, also from Ontario, had died from listeriosis.
Health officials grappling with the outbreak have said they expect to see more cases of the disease.

Let's hope health officials are incorrect and they do not see more cases.