The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that peanut butter is the "likely source" of the salmonella infection that has struck 410 people in 43 states and may have contributed to three deaths.
And the Minnesota Department of Health said Monday that the salmonella found in a 5-pound tub of peanut butter that infected nursing home residents there was found by genetic testing to be the national outbreak strain.
The federal agency did not give more details about the deaths and is awaiting the results of more tests before making a definitive ruling. The illnesses began on Sept. 15, and 18% of victims have been hospitalized.
The spread was produced by Peanut Corporation of America, based in Lynchburg, Va., and is distributed nationally by Ohio-based King Nut Companies. It is sold only to institutions such as schools, hospitals and long-term-care facilities.
The CDC says King Nut is the only brand of peanut butter used in the stricken institutions.
When interviewing patients, "the one thing that kept coming up and didn't seem to change was King Nut peanut butter," says Carlota Medus, an epidemiologist with Minnesota's Department of Health.
King Nut Companies has voluntarily withdrawn the product from distribution.
Salmonella causes cramping, diarrhea and fever. It is the greatest threat to the very young, very old and people with compromised immune systems.
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