SA listeriosis outbreak ‘worst documented in global history’

IN THE past month‚ another 167 people have contracted deadly listeriosis‚ bringing the total number of confirmed cases in South Africa to 717.

Food scientists are now calling it the worst documented listeriosis outbreak in global history.

In its latest listeriosis update‚ dated January 3‚ the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) – which has been tracking the listeriosis outbreak for an entire year – said 61 deaths had been reported.

Listeriosis has a relatively high mortality rate – 20-25% compared to illnesses caused by most other foodborne pathogens.

Fewer than 1% of people who get salmonella or E coli O157 die as a result.

Neonates – babies less than 28 days old – remain the most affected by listeriosis.

Also at great risk of contracting it are pregnant women – 20 times more at risk than other healthy adults – along with those over 65 and people who have weakened immune systems due to HIV/Aids‚ diabetes‚ cancer or organ transplants.

The outbreak is across all nine provinces and clinical tests have revealed that the listeria originates from a single source – “most likely a food product on the market or a series of food products produced in the same manufacturing environment‚” a prominent South African food microbiologist and food safety expert, Dr Lucia Anelich‚ said.

“I concur with my colleagues from business‚ academia and governments in Europe‚ Australia‚ Canada and the US‚ that this is the worst documented listeriosis outbreak in global history.”

The City of Tshwane’s environmental health practitioners recently traced the source of a hospitalised Tshwane man’s listeriosis to chicken supplied to a store by a certain abattoir. Samples they took from the abattoir tested positive for listeria monocytogenes and the abattoir was closed pending further investigations.

Foods most often implicated in foodborne outbreaks, are deli meats and hot dogs; refrigerated pâtés or meat spreads; unpasteurised (raw) milk and dairy products; soft cheese, such as feta‚ brie and camembert; refrigerated smoked seafood‚ raw sprouts and pre-packaged salads. — DDC