Listeria outbreak sickens 16 in six states, including Illinois

If you're combing through your refrigerator looking for sandwich ingredients, you may want to double check the condition of the cold cuts.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday an outbreak of listeria had sickened people in six states, including Illinois.

All told, 16 people have been sickened with one fatality nationwide, according to the CDC. Illinois currently has two listeria cases; however, officials with the Sangamon County Department of Public Health say there aren't any local cases.

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Listeria can be dangerous. With reports that there may be more than just 16 cases due to the mild nature of some infections, knowing how to prevent it can help keep you and your family healthy.

Here's what you need to know about listeria and the latest outbreak:

Listeria is a kind of bacteria that can cause a disease known scientifically as Listeriosis, which is better known by the shortened bacteria name.

According to the CDC, common symptoms of listeria include fever, flu-like symptoms, headache, stiff neck, loss of balance, intestinal issues such as diarrhea and vomiting and seizures.

Pregnant individuals are at the highest risk for listeria, followed by those with weakened immune systems and people over the age of 65.

Allen Alexander, chief environmental officer for SCDPH, said listeria can be a tricky bacteria to eliminate because it can grow in cooler conditions better than other forms of bacteria. This can cause issues when one is handling food such as deli meats and cheeses, which have been the cause of this current outbreak.

"What makes listeria so problematic is that it grows at low temperatures," Alexander said. "It can have some growth until the food is actually frozen. Obviously, that growth curve slows at lower temperatures (and) you want to maintain a temperature of 41 degrees or below. But until the food is frozen, listeria can still grow."

Alexander said listeria typically makes its way onto food through improperly cleaned surfaces. While the CDC has yet to find the cause of the current outbreak and where it began, he suspects that because it spread through delis, a dirty slicer may have been the culprit.

"My guess is because there's been facilities that didn't adequately clean their slicers," Alexander said. "It's probably a cleaning issue; they probably didn't clean the equipment well when they were slicing the product."

A lack of handwashing could also be a factor; in particular, he suspects that people may not have been wearing gloves when handling the products. In addition, the meats and cheeses may not have been stored at the proper 41 degrees or below recommended by food safety experts.

Alexander recommends that people keep their food fresh and keep it in a refrigerator at a temperature below 41 degrees. In addition, he also recommends that people consume deli products within a week of purchase.

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"If you buy it when it's pre-sealed, you should consume it a week after you open it," Alexander said. "If you buy it from the deli, you should definitely consume it a week after you open it."

SCDPH Director Gail O'Neill said the outbreak is an opportunity to remind people of the importance of food safety, particularly as it comes close to the holiday season.

"We don't want to panic (people), but it's a good time to start reminding people about food safety," O'Neill said. "We generally (start) doing that around Thanksgiving, so we'll be coming around to (remind people) not to leave leftovers out (and) to have good, healthy food practices."