Canadian health officials announced on Friday that three people have died in a nationwide listeriosis outbreak that may be linked to sandwich meat from one of Canada's largest meat processors.

Listeriosis is a bacterial illness that can seriously imperil the health conditions of the elderly, newborns, pregnant women and people with weak immune systems and with chronic medical problems. The symptoms of listeriosis include fever, stiffness, nausea, fever, as well as abdominal pain and diarrhea.

The last confirmed death caused by the bacterial infection was that of an elderly woman who died in June in at a retirement home in Ontario, according to Canadian health officials.

Robert Clarke of the Public Health Agency of Canada said that three deaths had been confirmed in connection with the investigation and that another one was still being inspected.

Tests have shown that 17 cases in Canada, including the three fatalities, are linked to the same strain of listeria bacteria: 13 cases in Ontario, two in British Columbia, one in Quebec and another one in Saskatchewan. Furthermore, other 16 cases are being looked into in order to establish if they are related to the outbreak, Robert Clarke said, according to The Associated Press.

In addition to this, health officials are investigating whether there is any link between the 17 illness cases and the recall of more than 20 types of processed meats produced at a Toronto plant owned by Maple Leaf Foods.

Officials announced they have positively detected the bacteria in 18 food samples of six different types of the meat produces, but hadn't established yet whether the meat was the cause of the outbreak.

On Wednesday, health officials confirmed that the death of an elderly woman from Ontario was the first fatality, which was linked to the listeriosis outbreak. What's more, earlier on Friday officials confirmed another listeriosis death case.