Food bacteria that can kill unborn babies alarms
LISTERIA is an organism that contaminates food and can result in pregnant women going into premature labour or even losing their babies. cancer, chronic liver or kidney disease.
Pregnant women are particularly prone because pregnancy causes a natural reduction in the strength of the immune system.
In South Africa, the first documented outbreaks of listeriosis were in 1977. Between August 1977 to April 1978, 14 cases were reported in the Johannesburg area.
Since then, sporadic cases have occurred throughout the country. For example, between January 2015 and September 2015, seven cases were reported at a tertiary hospital in the Western Cape.
Over the last few months, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases has received reports of a marked increase in the number of cases across the country, but particularly in Gauteng, South Africa’s smallest but most densely populated province.
There have been 190 confirmed cases across the country this year. In Gauteng, the population incidence rates have increased from two to eight per million.
The highest incidence has been recorded in the City of Johannesburg at 12 cases per million. This is not as high as the number of people who get meningococcal meningitis or pulmonary tuberculosis, but the consequences are just as serious.
Of the 122 cases in Gauteng, more than 60% are newborn babies.
The institute is trying to establish what the source of the infection is so that measures can be put in place to prevent further cases. Mothers who have been infected with the bacteria are being interviewed and the institute is also engaging with the food service quality industry. conducted on the range of possible foods to establish which is the implicated one. Only once authorities are able to identify the source, are they able to implement measures to prevent further cases.