COLORADO—With 13 confirmed fatalities so far, a series of listeria illnesses linked to recalled Colorado cantaloupes has become one of the deadliest food-related outbreaks in decades.

Listeria, commonly thought of as a passing condition with people only being able to name a handful of melons, has hit hard in this quiet, melon-obsessed town. 

“I’m one of the lucky ones,” local gravedigger Kent Kentson told reporters. “I just moved here, I don’t know shit about melons, and I’ve got tons of overtime coming.”