The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed yesterday a link between peanut butter and a salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 400 people in 43 states. The first to assume this link was the Minnesota Department of Health, who said that preliminary testing found salmonella bacteria in a 5-pound container of King Nut brand creamy peanut butter.

Unfortunately, by now, two people in Virginia and one in Minnesota have already died, but it's not clear whether the infection was the cause of death or whether any of the dead had eaten peanut butter. Five cases of salmonella infection have been reported in Virginia since this weekend, bringing the total in the outbreak to 17, but it was not clear whether the five were recent.

The peanut butter that was involved in this salmonella outbreak is usually sold in long-term care centers, hospitals, schools, universities, restaurants, cafeterias and bakeries. The outbreak first began in mid-October. According to the CDC, California has the largest number of cases, 55, followed by Ohio, 53, and Massachusetts, with 39. Minnesota has 30 cases, ten of them being found in nursing homes and most of the other 20 in schools or hospitals.

How can salmonella affect one's body? Well, Salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, generally lasting from four to seven days. Even if most people recover without medical attention, in the very young, very old and those with impaired immune systems it can develop into a severe illness. In order to avoid it, health experts warn people to never eat raw or undercooked eggs, poultry or meat.

Of course, health officials are now urging nursing homes, hospitals, schools and restaurants to throw away containers of peanut butter that have been linked to the 43-state salmonella outbreak. The peanut butter distributed by King Nut was recalled by the distributor Sunday. However, King Nut is challenging the link between its peanut butter and the outbreak, as the salmonella was found in an open container, not a sealed one.

The Minnesota Department of Health got a positive genetic match between the outbreak strain and salmonella found in an opened container of King Nut peanut butter on Monday. The peanut butter was at a nursing home where several residents had become ill. King Nut also announced that it distributes its products in only seven states: Arizona, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Ohio.

The company's voluntary recall relates to 21 lots of peanut butter in five pound to 50 pound containers made at its Blakely processing plant. The affected peanut butter was made on or after July 1, 2008, as Peanut company said late Tuesday, It was sold by King Nut, which is made by Peanut. It remains to be seen how this case will end and if the salmonella outbreak will end soon.