FREDERICTON - An elderly New Brunswick woman has become the 17th person whose death has been linked to the recall of food products from a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto.

The New Brunswick Health Department confirmed Tuesday that the woman, in her early 80s, was infected with the same strain of listeria involved in the country-wide outbreak.

Dr. Eilish Cleary, New Brunswick's acting chief medical officer of health, said the listeriosis infection was a contributing factor in the woman's death.

"Listeriosis is considered a contributing factor but it is not likely the immediate cause of death," she said, adding the woman had been seriously ill with other afflictions.

Cleary said the nursing home where the woman had been living did serve a Maple Leaf product that was on the recall list. But she said there is no way of knowing if the woman was infected in the nursing home because she had access to food outside the facility.

Cleary refused to release the name of the woman or the name of the nursing home. She also wouldn't reveal the region of New Brunswick where the nursing home is located.

"The risk is very low," Cleary said, defending the government department's secrecy in the case.

"It is important if you get sick to be diagnosed and treated but there is no preventative medication of early diagnosis that can be done ahead of time. The risk in this facility is no greater than it is anywhere else."

Cleary said the health department will not compromise patient confidentiality even when a person is dead, unless there is a good reason for the public to be given information.

New Brunswick typically has two to three cases of listeriosis every year, but this is the first and only case in the province since Maple Leaf Foods (TSX:MFI) began a massive recall of deli meats last month due to fears of contamination.

A Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto, where the listeria bacterium was found embedded deep inside slicing equipment, has been closed since Aug. 20.

The New Brunswick case is the second confirmed case of listeriosis in Atlantic Canada.

Health officials in Prince Edward Island are awaiting test results from a Winnipeg laboratory on a man hospitalized with listeriosis earlier this month.