Listeria outbreak from cantaloupes kills 15, infects 84: CDC

Farm workers harvest cantaloupe in Somerton, Arizona, June 7, 2006. Summer is the harvest season for cantaloupes and watermelons.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A listeria outbreak caused by tainted cantaloupes has killed 15 people in the United States and infected 84, U.S. health officials said on Friday.

So far, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 19 states have reported infections from one of the four strains of listeria involved in the outbreak.

Of the 15 deaths, five were in New Mexico, three were in Colorado, two were in Texas, and there was one each in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

(Editing by Sandra Maler)