The number of confirmed deaths in Canada linked to the listeria outbreak at a Maple Leaf food packing plant this August has risen to 18.

Hospital officials in B.C. confirmed on Friday that an elderly woman who died at Kelowna General Hospital on Sept. 4. was infected with the listeria strain involved in the Canada-wide recall of Maple Leaf Food products.

The Interior Health Authority did not identify the woman, but said she was a senior from the central Okanagan area with a chronic health condition that was being treated with an oral steroid medication.

They also said the woman was not a long-term patient or resident at any Interior Health facility, but had eaten deli meats while travelling over the summer.

B.C. has now recorded two deaths linked to the outbreak of listeriosis, the first occurring in Nanaimo in late July.