Listeriosis claims five in W Cape
OF THE 83 cases of listeriosis recorded in the province, the Health Department only has the outcome information on 21 cases of which five have died – three adults and two infants.
Some 90% of cases are from the Cape Town District, and incidence is not clustered in specific areas, provincial health department spokesperson Mark van der Heever said.
“Outcome information is only available for a limited number of cases for which we have been able to follow-up or receive completed information from the field,” he said.
National Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has confirmed that there is an outbreak of food-borne listeriosis in South Africa.
He said in October the Multisectional National Outbreak response team was briefed on the situation in the country.
From January 1 to November 29, 557 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases had been reported from all provinces, Motsoaledi had said.
Listeriosis is a food-borne bacterial illness which is associated with a wide variety of foods, including dairy products, meat products, vegetables, fruit and ready-to-eat products.
“Anyone who consumes contaminated food can become infected with listeria, but those at high risk of developing severe disease include newborns, the elderly, pregnant women, immuno-compromised individuals and those with underlying conditions such as HIV, diabetes, cancer, chronic liver or kidney disease. The illness can be treated with antibiotics,” Van der Heever said
Symptoms are flu-like with fever, diarrhoea, vomiting and body pains.
In pregnant women, listeria infection is usually a mild gastro-intestinal illness, but can affect the unborn baby.
If you have any concerns about symptoms or illness, please consult your health practitioner, Van der Heever added.
“Our staff have been placed on alert to be on the lookout for patients presenting with corresponding symptoms so that they can be detected early, and samples taken for testing.”
Red Meat Industry Forum chairman Dave Ford earlier this month said in a statement: “Although red meat is seldom a source of infection and although this bacterium is destroyed through proper cooking, the outbreak highlights the responsibility of the red meat industry to provide for proper and improved hygiene during the production, processing, packing and preparation of red meat and red meat products.
“It is also the responsibility of the consumer to ensure that cross contamination does not occur between cooked and raw products or from human hands and equipment,” he added.
“Listeria presents a particular concern in respect to food handling because it can grow at refrigerator temperatures,” Ford said.
During the processing of livestock to meat at the abattoir, particular attention is given to slaughter procedures, personnel hygiene and sterilisation of equipment to minimise bacterial contamination during this process, Ford said.
“Microbiological testing of water, product, contact surfaces and hands is a prerequisite at a registered abattoir,” he said.