Listeria Monocytogene Research Paper

The recent outbreak of food poisoning in South Africa that led to several deaths is Listeria(listeriosis). Listeriosis is an infection that is caused by consuming food contaminated by the bacteria Listeria. The infection can cause serious illness in pregnant women, neonates, adults with weakened or compromised immune systems and the elderly, and is capable of causing gastroenteritis in others who have been severely infected. Most people infected show no symptoms, but the elderly and very young are vulnerable. The outbreak would be discussed under the following

Causative organism; Listeria monocytogene, is the organism that caused the outbreak. It is the major human pathogen in the Listeria genus. It is usually the causative agent of the relatively

Magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) is used to confirm or rule out brain or brain stem involvement.[1]

Clinical symptoms; Symptoms include diarrhea, fever (high temperature), nausea, vomiting and flu-like symptoms. listeriosis is a serious disease in humans; the overt for of the disease has a case fatality rate around 20%. The two main clinical manifestations of the disease are sepsis and meningitis. In the case of meningitis, it is commonly complicated by encephalitis, when it is known as meningoencephalitis, a pathology that is unusual for bacterial infections. [2] The incubation period can vary and ranges from 3 to 70 days.[3]

Characteristics & laboratory identification; Listeria species are gram-positive, rod-shaped, and facultative anaerobes, and do not produce endospores.[4] in microscopy, they have an appearance of small rods, sometimes are in short chain arrangement. They may be identified in direct smears to be coccoid, therefore can be mistaken for streptococci. They may resemble corynebacteria when in longer chain. Flagella are produced at room temperature but not produced at 37℃ (normal body temperature). They are non-branching, non-capsulated as well in laboratory

Myalgia (muscle pain) and pyresis (fever) in mild cases can be treated with over-the-counter medication (pain relievers), and diarrhea and gastroenteritis can be treated with over-the-counter medications as well if need.[5]

In the case of invasive listeriosis, the bacteria would have spread to the bloodstream and central nervous system. In this case, treatment will include intravenous (IV) delivery of high dose of antibiotics and in-patient hospital care. Duration of stay in hospital for care varies depending on the degree of widespread of the infection, but is often no less than two weeks.

In the case of pregnancy, prompt treatment of listeriosis in pregnancy is important to prevent the bacteria from infecting the fetus, antibiotics may be administered in the case of non-invasive listeriosis in pregnant women. Listeriosis has the ability to penetrate the endothelial layer of the placenta thus, can affect