MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirm another person in Minnesota has died in connection with a salmonella outbreak in cantaloupe.
There are more sick people in Minnesota than anywhere else in the country. The number of confirmed cases now stands at 26 - up from 15 at the beginning of the month, despite a weeks-long recall.
The outbreak was first discovered two months ago and some of the sick people are now represented by Pritzker Hageman, P.A. The Minneapolis-based personal injury law firm just filed the first lawsuit on behalf of a 13-year-old boy from Florida.
"The fact that the cases keep increasing, just a slow trickle, is very concerning," said lawyer Eric Hageman.
Hageman's firm is one of just a few specializing in foodborne illnesses, settling cases sometimes for millions of dollars.
"There needs to be some accountability and so what we do is try to hold food producers and manufacturers and retailers accountable for producing and selling tainted food," said Hageman.
This outbreak is due to a rare strain that matches bacteria of whole and pre-cut cantaloupe products made in Mexico. Click here to see all the stores and products affected, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
The CDC says it has now sickened at least 302 people across the country. Four deaths have been reported, including three from Minnesota and one from Oregon.
"We really need to get to the bottom of this quickly because people should not be dying from eating food," said Hageman. "That puts this outbreak in a category of severity that's very, very unusual."
It can take weeks for doctors to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak and cross-contamination with other products is possible during processing. To find the source, investigators will do what's called a traceback investigation, which includes similar evidence Hageman uses to build a case.
"You need to match-up the same DNA fingerprint on the sick individual with the product at issue, so if you have that, then that's a match and that's a case," said Hageman.
Most cases involve symptoms like diarrhea, nausea and fever which is spread by feces, particularly amongst the fruit that's grown on the ground.
If you have symptoms that last longer than a couple of days, see a doctor. Health experts say that the young and old, and people with compromised immune symptoms, are most at risk.
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