Santa Clara County Baby Death Tied to Listeriosis Bacteria

Health officials combing past medical records have found another victim of listeriosis---- this time a 3-day-old baby girl in Santa Clara County----but they have not determined whether the death was related to Jalisco brand cheese, being blamed for the deadliest episode of food contamination in California history.

The child’s death, recorded in May, brings the listeriosis toll in California to 30.

In Artesia, meanwhile, state oficials continued combing through materials at the Jalisco Mexican Products Inc. factory focusing on the pasteurization process and on the handling and wrapping of the firm’s contaminated cheese products, which are being blamed for most----if not all----of the deaths.

The Listeria monocytogenes bacteria has been found in opened and unopened packages of Jalisco cheese, although authorities say they are not yet sure if the contamination occurred during the cheese-making process or if the milk used to make the cheese had been contaminated earlier.

Plans to Take Samples

“We’re going to take the whole plant and completely disassemble it,” said Dick Reed, Southern California administrator for the state Food and Agriculture Department. “We’re not sure where it (the contamination) is coming from.”

“They’ll probably do some product samples as well as surface samples of the equipment to see if the organism is there,” added Stuart Richardson, food and drug branch chief for California’s Department of Health Services.

The director of the State Department of Health Services, Kenneth Kizer, told a Sacramento news conference Saturday that the latest known victim was a newborn girl who died in Kaiser Permanente Hospital’s intensive care nursury in Santa Clara shortly a few days after being brought there in early May from Contra Costa County.

The death was discovered by health officials as they searched back through records for listeriosis cases in the wake of the cheese contamination outbreak. The victim was described by health spokesmen as a 3-day-old Anglo child, born in the Walnut Creek area. Most of the other vistims have been Latino women and infants. Health officials said they had not determined yet whether the child’s mother had eaten any of the contaminated cheese products.

With the added death, Kizer put the number of deaths and stillbirths from listeriosis Saturday at 29. HOwever, Dr. Dorothy McVann, associate deputy for public health programs for Los Angeles County, said that with latest latest death, her agency’s figures would show show 30 deaths from listeriosis symptoms in Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Clara counties.

“I’d say this is the most severe food-related outbreak in terms of deaths in California since the early 1900s,” when modern food treatment processes were implemented, said Stu Richardson, chief of the food and drug branch of the state Department of Health Services. “There have been food poisoning outbreaks where a lot of people get sick, but where they don’t die.”

Kizer sought to brighten the picture Saturday. “The situation is under control,” the health chief said. “As far as an epidemic taking off, or anything like that, that’s not going to happen.”

Bacteria Source Not Known

Kizer said the source of the bacteria is unknown, “but the milk (used to make the cheese) is very high on the list of possible sources.” He said samples of the milk used by Jalisco are being sent to both state and federal labs, with preliminary results due Thursday or Friday.

However, the state Department of Food and Agriculture staff believed the contamination more likely resulted from a problem during cheese pasteurization or in handling the finished cheese, according to the department’s deputy director Hans Van Nes.

Listeriosis cases in Fresno County and in Oregon and were reported by hospitals and local officials Saturday. But any link between the illnesses and the contaminated cheese remained unconfirmed. In Fresno County, officials confirmed one case of listeriosis and suspected five others, but haven’t determined if any of the six people ate Jalisco cheeses. In Salem, Ore., a woman reported becoming ill after eating Jalisco cheese.

A “remove from sale” order for all 44 Jalisco-made cheese products----marketed with Jalisco, Jiminez, La Vaquita and Guadalajara labels----remained in effect throughout California and in 14 other states.

As authorities began sifting through death certificates and other health records looking for clues to more victims, several Los Angeles area residents recalled tales of illness, both mild and severe, in the cheese contamination episode.

‘Began Feeling Horrible’

A Santa Monica engineer, Brian O’Connor, said he had bought the Jalisco brand cheese last month for a little variety--he usually eats brie--and had a few slices with a glass of wine several nights a week for much of the month.

“Then I began feeling horrible, having pains in my neck,” headaches, nausea and fatigue. He came home from work early and took three-hour naps before he went to bed at night. His doctor prescribed antibiotics, but did not diagnose listeriosis. “I think he was a little perplexed by it too,” O’Connor said.

Finally, when the cheese ran out--actually, he threw the second block away when he found “kind of a slime on it”--his headaches disappeared a week later. When he saw news accounts, it clicked: “I thought, I got poisoned and I didn’t know it.”

Dr. Milton Birnbaum, whose Sunset Blvd. practice draws many Latino patients, said his office began Friday calling each of the more than 30 patients who had complained within the last month of the same symptoms that the listeria bacteria induces.

“We’re going through records and contacting those with the same symptoms, asking how they feel,” said Birnbaum. Some were being called in for examinations.

‘Should Be Put on Alert’

“I think people should be put on alert that if they do have symptoms, they should go to physicians,” Birnbaum said.

One of Birnbaum’s patients, Meredith Uribe, 45, had eaten some of the cheese for lunch Monday, and by Monday night was in pain. She was still at home, still sick, on Thursday when she saw news reports about the cheese, and drove to Birnbaum’s office, carrying the smelly cheese with her.

“It dawned on me immediately that I had eaten some really bad stuff. I was really frightened, just like if you found out you ate glass or something,” she said. “I was just lucky that I found out right away.”

Throughout Southland Latino communities, where the cheese is a staple, there was concern.

Spanish language television station KMEX aired hourly headlines and fielded phone calls from worried viewers. Radio station KALI referred scores of anxious callers to the health department hotline.

Times Staff Writers Marita Hernandez, Patt Morrison and George Ramos contributed to this story.