Pennsylvania Reports First Listeria Illness Linked to Cantaloupe

Health officials in Pennsylvania say a suburban Philadelphia woman is the state’s first reported case of someone becoming ill after eating a cantaloupe tainted with listeria.

The Pennsylvania Health Department said Tuesday the elderly woman from Montgomery County was hospitalized in early September, but has since recovered.

Listeria infections can kill young children or frail people. Symptoms include fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

It’s the state’s first case linked to the multi-state outbreak of listeria linked to a Colorado farm.

Federal officials say an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe is now linked to 116 illnesses and 23 deaths nationwide, making it the deadliest known outbreak of foodborne illness in the U.S. in a quarter century.