El Abuelito Listeria Pregnancy Related Illnesses Added to Outbreak Total
Two El Abuelito Listeria pregnancy related illnesses were added to the listeriosis soft cheese outbreak total last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That company’s queso fresco cheese was recalled earlier this month because lab tests conducted by the Connecticut Department of Health found the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes in one sample of the product. Also last week, two more types of El Abuelito cheese were recalled: Quesillo (Oaxaca and string cheese) and Requeson (ricotta).
The outbreak patient age range went from 45 to 75 with seven ill in the first outbreak notice to less than 1 year to 75 with ten sick in the latest notice, indicating that an infant was sickened. The outbreak notice states “Two illnesses are pregnancy-related.” The CDC told Food Poisoning Bulletin that two of the illnesses are in a newborn and a pregnant woman who are unrelated; both are Hispanic.