Pregnancy‐related listeriosis

Abstract

About one in seven cases of listeriosis occurs in pregnant women, and, although listeriosis is rare, it is the third leading cause of death from food-borne infections. Pregnancy-related listeriosis increases the risk for fetal and neonatal mortality by approximately 21%. During pregnancy, infections are more likely to occur in the third trimester (66%) than the first trimester (3%). However, fetal and neonatal adverse effects are less common as gestational age increases or with older gestational age at birth. Pregnant women seem highly susceptible in some listeriosis outbreaks making up a large percentage of cases, whereas others contain very few. Whether this results from differences in strains of L. monocytogenes, exposures, or other factors remains to be determined. Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) estimates the human lethal dose for 50% (LD ) for fetal/neonatal loss is 1.9 × 10 colony forming units (CFUs) L. monocytogenes. Animal models have been developed for pregnancy-related listeriosis showing similar susceptibility and clinical outcomes as in humans. Nonhuman primate and guinea pig animal models have similar (LD ) values to the estimated human LD . Additional animal studies are needed to understand the pathways leading to fetal and neonatal listeriosis in humans. More information is needed to understand dose response, to model risk for listeriosis at lower concentrations, and to determine why some pregnant women may be more susceptible than others. To better treat listeriosis during pregnancy, biomarkers for early diagnosis of listeriosis are also needed. Last, pregnant women need to be educated about avoiding high-risk foods, like Mexican-style cheese and ready-to-eat meats. Birth Defects Research 109:324-335, 2017.© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Guinea pig models for translation of the developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis into the clinic

“…Pregnant guinea pigs have been used to study the effects of maternal infection on fetal development, such as by cytomegalovirus and listeria, because of their similar susceptibility and clinical outcomes to humans (Wadhwa Desai & Smith, ). This commonality between the human and guinea pig immune responses has also been applied to the development of vaccines for tuberculosis (Dey et al .…”

Prevalence, Pathogenicity, Virulence, Antibiotic Resistance, and Phylogenetic Analysis of Biofilm-Producing Listeria monocytogenes Isolated from Different Ecological Niches in Egypt: Food, Humans, Animals, and Environment

“…Although the genus Listeria includes many species, due to the pathogenicity of L. monocytogenes in human hosts and its ability to flourish in hostile environments, earlier research implicating genome sequencing were to a great extent concentrated on L. monocytogenes [7][8][9][10][11]. L. monocytogenes is implicated with human listeriosis and in the present decennium, numerous serious outbreaks of foodborne listeriosis have been recorded in different countries and continents [11][12][13][14][15][16], causing serious manifestations in the form of septicemia and meningitis, principally in the immunocompromised and old populaces in addition to pregnant women, who may bring forth stillborn babies or seriously contaminated infants [4,9,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

Late stillbirth due to listeriosis

“…An important aspect to consider in the medical history is the previous ingestion of potentially contaminated food, which can be the clue for the diagnosis of maternal listeriosis. This information was present in up to 20% of cases of listeriosis in pregnancy 6. In the present case, the mother ate soft cheese from a rural area a few days before the delivery, but this fact was overlooked during her first visits to the Emergency Department.…”

“…The fetal and neonatal complication becomes less frequent as the gestational age increases. However, the complication may be represented by preterm birth (≈ 65%), early onset neonatal sepsis (≈ 60%), and fetal loss (≈ 25%) 6…”