We have been reading for weeks about the peanut butter from Georgia tainted with salmonella bacteria….well now it appears a resident in a Virginia nursing home may have died from consuming the peanut butter.
Hester C. Fields, 78, of Kingsport, died at the Brian Health & Rehab Center in Weber City after suffering a high fever and diarrhea for nearly a week. Doctors initially suspected Hester Fields suffered from pneumonia. On November 23, Fields was rushed to Indian Path Medical Center in Kingsport, Tennessee after her fever spiked to 105 degrees and following a week of diarrhea and vomiting. On November 26, two days after Fields’ death, culture tests revealed that salmonella had tainted her blood. Four days later, the Virginia Department of Health telephoned her daughter with the news that salmonella had been found
Abdominal cramps, diarrhea and fever are the main symptoms of salmonella poisoning, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Salmonella is most toxic with infants, the elderly and people with impaired immune systems.
Jeanie Fields, the decedent’s daughter, suspects her mother contracted salmonella from the peanut butter crackers – also called nabs – she said the nursing home staff provided to patients.