2 New Deaths, 2 Illnesses From Listeriosis Reported

Two new listeriosis deaths--both newborn infants--were reported Friday in Los Angeles County, the Department of Health Services said.

Additionally, department spokesman Toby Milligan said, two additional illnesses from the potentially deadly bacteria, Listeria monocytogenes, were recorded Friday, the first reported in three days.

In all, 122 individuals, most of them Latinos, have been infected with the bacteria in Los Angeles County this year, 41 of whom have died. Statewide, there have been 234 listeriosis cases and 78 fatalities.

The new fatalities were the infant of a 27-year-old Latino woman from East Los Angeles and the baby of a 26-year-old non-Latino woman from the San Gabriel Valley, the county health spokesperson said.

Cause Not Known

Those who became ill from the bacteria were a Latino woman, 23, from the San Fernando Valley and her newborn infant, which the county counts as one new illness, and a non-Latino woman, 29, of West Los Angeles.

Dr. Shirley Fannin, associate director for communicable disease control for Los Angeles County, said that until the latest surviving listeriosis victims are interviewed, it will not be known if they contracted the disease from eating contaminated cheese.

However, she added, “we would consider them part of the epidemic until we prove otherwise.”

Listeria has been detected in Mexican-style cheese produced by two Los Angeles-area firms. But only one of the companies, Jalisco Mexican Products Inc. of Artesia, has been linked to illnesses. That company is under criminal investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.