What causes a Listeria-associated foodborne illness?
Listeria monocytogenes is the bacterium that causes the foodborne disease listeriosis. Listeriosis is classified as a foodborne infection and is one of several foodborne diseases that are often reported in the scientific and popular press. Listeriosis expresses itself in the affected person by means of septicemia, meningitis (or meningoencephalitis) and/or encephalitis. Pregnant women exposed to L. monocytogenes in their second or third trimesters, and who have intrauterine or cervical infections, may spontaneously abort the fetus or produce a stillbirth. Influenza-type symptoms, which may include continuous fever, usually will precede the aforementioned disorders. In the U.S., listeriosis affects about 2,500 persons every year, with about 500 of those cases resulting in death.
