How to avoid getting infected with listeriosis, Rosselkhoznadzor experts told

According to media reports, an outbreak of listeriosis has been declared in the United States , two people have died, and almost 30 more victims have been hospitalized. it is reported that those sick with listeriosis ate prepared MEAT and sausage products purchased in grocery stores. Earlier, Canadian authorities announced an outbreak of listeriosis . According to preliminary information, those infected drank soft drinks of plant origin. 

Rospotrebnadzor reported that in RUSSIA the incidence of listeriosis in recent years has been at the level of isolated cases - 0.07 per 100 thousand population.  

A person can become infected with listeriosis by eating contaminated animal products (dairy products, meat products, poultry products ), vegetables and fruits, seafood, raw or undercooked. Lusine Tsaturyan, deputy HEAD of the department of the head of the bacteriology department of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "VGNKI", told Veterinary Science and Life about this.

In addition, infection can occur through inhalation of dust contaminated with the pathogen, in places where animals are kept, or through contact with sick animals or carriers of the pathogen of listeriosis.

The expert noted that the highest risk of contracting listeriosis is in pregnant women, the elderly and people with immunodeficiency. “Occupational diseases of listeriosis are possible among specialists in the field of veterinary medicine, workers in meat processing and dairy products, livestock farms and other enterprises that keep animals,” noted Lusine Tsaturyan.

In this regard, in order to avoid becoming infected with listeriosis, the expert advises people who are especially at risk of infection not to consume the following foods:

• raw (unpasteurized) MILK and cheeses made from it;
• refrigerated ready-to-eat foods (such as hot dogs, cold cuts, pates and meat spreads, and smoked seafood) unless properly cooked.

Listeriosis is a saprozoonotic infectious disease of humans and animals caused by pathogenic bacteria of the genus Listeria. The disease is characterized by multiple sources and reservoirs of infection, a variety of routes and factors of transmission of the pathogen, polymorphism of clinical manifestations, high mortality in newborns and persons with immunodeficiencies with the possible development of visceral, nervous, glandular, gastroenteric and mixed forms of the disease, as well as asymptomatic carriage of listeria.

The main reservoir of the pathogen in nature is rodents. Listeria is found in foxes, minks, arctic foxes, wild ungulates, and birds. Listeriosis affects domestic and farm animals (pigs, small and large ruminants , horses, rabbits, and less commonly cats and dogs), as well as domestic and ornamental poultry. Listeria is also found in seafood.

The source of infection for humans is farm animals - sick and asymptomatic carriers and rodents.

Listeria is resistant to various influences, including low temperatures; they persist for a long time in all environmental objects: soil, water, pathological material from dead animals, feed. The greatest importance in the spread of listeriosis is played by the ability of the pathogen to actively multiply and persist for a long time in various food products, especially at +4 ° C, storage in the refrigerator, including in products packaged in barrier films that limit the access of oxygen (under vacuum, in a modified gas atmosphere).