Search Here

The cucumber may not be as cool as it looks. A salmonella outbreak that killed four people last September is still on the rise and is making people sick, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the CDC's last update on the cucumber on October 14, 71 people had been reported ill in 23 states. But now, in Connecticut and New Hampshire, patients were reported infected by it, taking the total affected states to 38, along with 165 hospitalizations and four reported deaths.

"The number of reported illnesses has declined substantially since the peak of illnesses in August and September; however, it has not returned to the number of reported illnesses that we would expect to see (about five every month)," said the CDC's outbreak update issued on Thursday, according to CNN.

Not all patients are always linked to the outbreak, so the number of cases is perhaps greater. A CDC timeline  suggests that it takes two to four weeks to confirm whether a patient has been affected or not by the outbreak.

The first outbreak had been announced as linked with the Fat Boy label, produced in Baja California and Mexico, and distributed by Custom Produce Sales from Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce starting August1, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Affected cucumbers sport dark green skin, between 7 and 10 inches in length, and are sold in bulk without wrappers, in states including Arizona, California, Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

Do you have any of such cucumbers in your home? Then throw them away and sanitise your area. But if you're not sure about the infection, then just contact the store.