Prevalence and Characteristics of Listeria monocytogenes in Bovine Colostrum in Japan

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and characteristics of Listeria monocytogenes in bovine colostrum in Japan. We collected bovine colostrum samples from 210 dams from 21 dairy farms in Hokkaido prefecture (Japan) between March and June 2009. L. monocytogenes was detected in samples from 6 (28.6%) of the 21 farms. Of the 210 samples, 16 (7.6%) were positive for L. monocytogenes. We recovered 80 L. monocytogenes isolates; 44 (55%) isolates were classified as serotype 1/2b and 36 (45%) were classified as serotype 4b. The isolates were susceptible to penicillin, ampicillin, amoxicillin, gentamicin, kanamycin, streptomycin, erythromycin, vancomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) characterization of the 80 isolates revealed six PFGE types. Two PFGE types corresponded to human listeriosis cases. Most L. monocytogenes isolates possessed virulence-associated genes (actA, hly, iap, inlA, inlC, mpl, plcA, plcB, opuCA, prfA, and clpC). One PFGE type isolate possessed an epidemic clone II marker. Our findings suggest that isolates from bovine colostrum have the potential to cause human and animal listeriosis. This is the first study on the prevalence and characteristics of L. monocytogenes isolated from bovine colostrum obtained from dairy farms. Our results have important implications for improving public health and elucidating the epidemiology of L. monocytogenes in bovine colostrum.

Source tracking on a dairy farm reveals a high occurrence of subclinical mastitis due to hypervirulentListeria monocytogenesclonal complexes

“…Rather, milk contamination is primarily believed to result from environmental/faecal contamination of the udder surface (Sanaa et al ; Hassan et al ; Castro et al ), or biofilm formation in the milking system (Latorre et al ; Latorre et al ). Nevertheless, cases of raw milk contamination due to subclinical mastitis have been reported (Hunt et al ; Hasegawa et al ). Results of the present study suggest that listerial (subclinical) mastitis should not be neglected as a source of raw milk contamination in dairy farm environment.…”

Epidemiology of Listeria monocytogenes prevalence in foods, animals and human origin from Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…It seems that some factors have more profound effects on the prevalence of L. monocytogenes . Regarding the role of sample type, with some variation incidence of L. monocytogenes contamination in dairy products tends to be lower than other resources such as vegetables or meat products (mostly less than 10%) [ 57 – 64 ]. Based on previous reports, the infection rate of domestic and wild animals is frequently higher than foods origin and has a much more variation [ 65 – 71 ].…”

Listeriosis in animals, its public health significance (food-borne zoonosis) and advances in diagnosis and control: a comprehensive review

“…Small ruminants, especially sheep, are mostly affected (OIE 2014). L. monocytogenes has been isolated from meat and/or milk of goats, sheep, cattle, pig, chicken, quail, partridge, ostrich and buffaloes Rahimi et al 2012;Derra et al 2013;Hasegawa et al 2013;Kuan et al 2013;Ndahi et al 2014), fish and fishery products (Jayasekaran et al 1996;Karunasagar & Karunasagar 2000;, ice creams, vegetables, other ready-to-eat foods (Lambertz et al 2012;Lambertz et al 2013;Mateus et al 2013;Poulsen & Czuprynski 2013), seafood ) and mushroom production facility (Viswanath et al 2013). In the northern hemispheres, listeriosis has a distinct seasonal occurrence, probably associated with seasonal feeding of silage with the highest prevalence during December through May.…”