Listeria warning after three deaths in US linked to contaminated ice cream machines

Three people have died and three others have been hospitalised after drinking milkshakes contaminated with Listeria bacteria from a restaurant in Washington state.

Investigators found the outbreak was linked to ice cream machines that were not cleaned properly at a Frugals restaurant in Tacoma.

The six individuals were hospitalised between February 27 and July 22 and genetic fingerprinting from the bacteria inside the milkshakes showed it was the same strain of Listeria that triggered the hospitalisations, the health department said.

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Two of the three who survived said they had a milkshake from the same Frugals in Tacoma before getting sick.

Symptoms of Listeria infection include fever and muscle aches, and sometimes diarrhea or other gastrointestinal problems. Other symptoms are headache, confusion and convulsions.

Each year in Australia around 15 people die and an estimated 150 people are hospitalised with listeriosis, according to Food Standards Australia.

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In 2018, six people died in a Listeria outbreak linked to a rockmelon farm in Riverina region of New South Wales.

Listeria outbreaks typically affect older adults, pregnant women, infants and adults with compromised immune systems.

Pregnant women are approximately 10 times more likely to get listeriosis.

With CNN