Listeriosis

Description:

Listeriosis is a disease which is caused by special bacteria – listeriya.  This infectious disease develops after the use of the infected food. Microbes can extend on a blood-groove to the central nervous system. The disease often causes an abortion or a still birth in women who have listeriosis during pregnancy.
Listeriya can parasitize in animals and birds, they are also found in the soil, water, the sewerage, and also in a stern for animals. At 5 of 100 inspected people in intestines reveal listeriya. Listeriosis is considered a disease of a food origin because most of people probably catch after meal, inseminated by listeriya. Nevertheless, the woman can give bacteria to the child during pregnancy. Besides, there were several cases when workers of the corresponding professions caught listeriosis, concerning the infected calfs and a bird.
Persons with extra risk on listeriosis: elderly people, pregnant women of women, newborns and people with the weakened immune system (with snzhenny immunity). The risk increases if the person has such diseases as AIDS, cancer, diseases of kidneys, a diabetes mellitus, or accepts some medicines. The infection most often occurs at children is younger than one month and 60 years are more senior than adults. Pregnant women make 27% of cases of the diagnosed listeriosis, and faces with the broken immunity -  70%. At persons with AIDS in 280 times more chances to ache with listeriosis, than at others.

Listeriosis symptoms:

After people consume the products contaminated this bacterium in food, symptoms are shown in 11-70 days.  Most of people do not note any expressed symptoms. Listeriya can cause a gastric disturbance and intestines.  At persons with listeriosis can develop grippopodobny symptoms, such as fever, a headache, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, a diarrhea.

Pregnant women feel moderate fever, muscle pains, a gastric disturbance, intestinal problems.  The infection can cause an abortion, premature births, a precocious rupture of a bag of waters, a still birth. A half of the newborns infected with listeriya die of this disease.
The newborn child has two types of listeriosis: with an early and late onset of the illness. Listeriosis with the early beginning is a serious disease which arises at the birth and usually causes premature births. The babies infected during pregnancy, as a rule, have a blood poisoning (sepsis).  When the full-term child catches listeriya at the time of delivery, the disease is shown by the late beginning. As a rule, symptoms at the same time appear approximately in two weeks after the birth. Children with a late form of a disease usually have meningitis (an inflammation head and back fabrics), however they have more chances to survive, than those children for whom symptoms were diagnosed  right after the birth.
The patients who got sick with listeriosis against the background of an immunodeficiency are subject to risk of serious infections of blood and the central nervous system (a head and spinal cord). Meningitis arises approximately in half of listeriosis cases at adults. Symptoms of listeriozny meningitis develop approximately in four days after the catarral phenomena and include fever, the uncoordinated movements of muscles, a tremor, muscular contractions, spasms.
Listeriya cause an endocarditis approximately in 7,5 percent of cases. The endocarditis is an inflammation of tissues of heart because of a bacterial infection. The Listeriozny endocarditis is a cause of death approximately at a half of patients. Listeriosis can be also shown in the form of abscess of a brain, an eye infection, hepatitis, peritonitis, a pulmonary infection, coinfection, arthritis, heart troubles, an infection of bones, an infection  of a gall bladder.

Listeriosis reasons:

The person catches listeriya at consumption of the infected food stuffs. Listeria was found on crude vegetables, in fish, a bird, the milk which is (not pasteurized) by cheese, fresh meat, the processed meat (for example, sausages and canned meat), and in some soft cheeses. Quite often the outbreaks of listeriosis  are connected with such products as cabbage, milk, cheese, half-cooked hot dog, sausage products. Unlike the majority of other bacteria, listeriya do not cease to grow if the food is in the refrigerator, their growth was only a little slowed down. Fortunately, the corresponding  temperature of preparation and pasteurization kills these bacteria.
Listeriya can get through an intestines wall, and from there - into blood. Having got to blood, they can be transported in any body and a part of a body, but usually these bacteria of a tropna to tissues of the central nervous system (a head and spinal cord). They often occur at pregnant women in a placenta. Listery are localized in white blood blood cells which are called macrophages. In macrophages of a bacterium can hide from an immune response and become unavailable to some antibiotics. They are capable to breed in macrophages, extending from one cell to another.

Treatment of Listeriosis:

Listeriosis is the indication for prescription of antibiotics (ampicillin) or sulfamethoxazole Trimethoprimum (Bactrimum, Septra). As bacteria live in macrophages, treatment can be complicated, and terms of treatment can vary. As a rule, pregnant women are treated within two weeks; newborn -  2-3 weeks; adults with an easy form of a disease – 2-4 weeks; at development of meningitis the term of treatment makes about 3 weeks, at brain abscesses therapy is carried out of 5 weeks, and persons with an endocarditis are treated about 6 weeks.
Patients have to be hospitalized for treatment and monitoring. Other drugs can be used for pain relief and fever.
The overal coefficient of mortality at listeriosis makes 26%. Such high mortality is connected with prevalence of a disease among newborn, elderly people, and at the weakened faces with an immunodeficiency. Complications of listeriosis include: meningitis, sepsis, abortions, still births, pneumonia, endocarditis, shock, abscesses of various localization.

Prevention:

It is necessary to apply the appropriate measures to prevention of listeriosis. Persons with  high risk (pregnant women, persons with the broken immunity, etc.) have to show extra care. People of high risk should avoid some soft cheeses, such as the Mexican cheese, feta, brie, Camembert and blue cheeses (cottage cheese is safe); to subject food to careful culinary processing, to avoid purchase of ready dishes in shops.
For all people risk ache  with listeriosis it can to be reduced by acceptance of the following precautionary measures:
- to carefully process meat and eggs dishes;
- to carefully wash crude vegetables before food;
- to store crude meat separately from crude vegetables and ready-made products. After cutting of crude meat to wash a chopping board with detergent before use it for vegetables.
- not to drink not pasteurized milk or products made of such milk;
- to carefully wash hands after contact with crude meat;
-  to meet periods of validity and storage conditions for a certain food.