Listeriosis: Public not out of danger

THE source of the listeriosis outbreak may have been identified and possibly contaminated products may be off the shelves but the general public is not out of danger for at least another four weeks, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases has warned.

In its latest report this week, the institute said case numbers might change as more data becomes available.

“Data collection and cleaning is ongoing and case numbers will change from day to day,” the report said.

“Cases of listeriosis will continue to occur up to four weeks or longer despite the recall, as the incubation period for listeriosis can be as long as 21 days with a reported maximum of 70 days,” the report warned.

Listeriosis was declared an outbreak in December.

On March 4, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced that the ST6 strain linked to the outbreak had been traced to a meat processing plant of Enterprise Foods in Germiston and Polokwane.

Western Cape department of health spokesman Mark van der Heever said a total of 119 cases had been laboratory confirmed in the province, of which 29 were deaths and 85 patients were treated.“This means that on March 6 we still had five patients in hospital. The outbreak is not within a health setting but in communities, which is why certain food items have been recalled. Within the hospital setting, we have removed affected items from our menus,” Van der Heever said.

Meanwhile, Tiger Brands spokesperson Andrea Hattingh said product recalls of Enterprise polony, frankfurters and Russians, as well as products of the Miliekip, Bokkie and Renown brands would continue until March 31.

She said while the plants in Germiston and Polokwane remained closed, no employees had been diagnosed with listeriosis.

“Members of the public should note that listeriosis is a notifiable disease – every clinic/ hospital (private or public) or NGO is required to send a “detailed form” to the NICD for disease surveillance,” said Hattingh.

Aaron Motsoaledi