Tainted tomato cases rise to 652

An outbreak of salmonella-tainted tomatoes -- now the largest of its kind on record -- has infected 652 people across 34 states and Washington, D.C., health officials said.

The rare strain has caused at least 71 hospitalizations and may have contributed to the death of a cancer patient, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

But the increase in cases, from 145 on June 9, was caused mainly by a surge in completed lab reports, not by a large number of new infections.

The Food and Drug Administration has cleared 40 states, including California, as the source of the outbreak.