Listeria Poisoning
Listeriosis, the infection caused by eating food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, is a serious infection that affects 1,600 in the United States each year. The CDC estimates that 260 of those 1,600 cases result in death.
Certain groups of people are most likely to contract Listeriosis. These groups include pregnant women; newborn babies; people above the age of 65; and people with weakened immune systems, such as those who have HIV or are taking a drug that suppresses their immune system.
Acute illness occurs when Listeria spreads beyond the gut. When this occurs, the symptoms vary depending on whether or not the infected individual is pregnant.
Pregnant women generally only experience fever, muscle aches, and other flu-like symptoms. However, infections that occur during pregnancy may lead to life-threatening infection in the newborn baby; miscarriage; premature deliver; or stillbirth.
Non-pregnant individuals experience symptoms that generally include headache, muscle aches, fever, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions. While the onset of symptoms can occur as quickly as the day of or after exposure, they most typically appear between one and four weeks after consuming food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. There have, however, been instances of infection that started as late as 70 days after exposure. Listeriosis is typically confirmed by laboratory tests of body tissue or fluid, such as spinal fluid, blood, or the placenta. In the past five years alone, there have been confirmed outbreaks of Listeria tied to pre-packaged salads produced at a single Dole processing plant in Ohio; raw milk produced by Miller’s Organic Farm in Pennsylvania; frozen vegetables produced by a single producer and sold in grocery stores under multiple brand names; Vulto Creamery Soft Raw Milk Cheese; ready-to-eat ham products from Johnston County Hams; ready-to-eat pork products from Houston-based Long Phung Food Products; two outbreaks linked to various deli meatsand cheeses that the CDC could not link to a common supplier; hard-boiled egg products from Almark Foods; enoki mushrooms produced by a group of three producers; Queso Fresco made by Abuelito Cheese Inc.; and one outbreak for which no common source was identified.