Listeriosis

General information about a disease

Though history of studying of listeriosis contains already more than 100 years, this disease is almost unfamiliar to the practicing doctors. Listeriosis meets everywhere, regardless of climatic conditions of the region and a way of life of people.

To be fair it is worth noticing that listeriosis affects generally animal. People get sick extremely seldom. The small number of the made diagnoses partly is explained also by the fact that the analysis on listeriosis can be carried out only in specially equipped laboratories as by means of standard means activators and antibodies are not found.

Despite rather low percent of incidence of listeriosis, the infection is deadly. Cases of a lethal outcome are fixed at 40-50% of adults and at 70-80% of children. The most serious consequences are caused by listeriosis in pregnant women. The disease leads to premature births, not incubation of a fruit, early child mortality. Also in risk group there are elderly people and people with the weakened immunity. In recent years listeriosis even more often is found in addicts who constantly destroy the immune system. One of especially dangerous drugs is fentanyl. In a case with drug addicts the disease, as a rule, is the last link separating the person from death.

Than listeriosis is provoked?

The causative agent of listeriosis concerns to group of korinebakteriya and represents a small, mobile stick which does not form a dispute. Very often it is confused to the bacterium causing diphtheria therefore at suspicions of listeriosis, diagnosis has to consider similarity of these two activators surely.

In most cases listeriya collect in food stuffs with which they then get into a human body. Bacterial sticks keep productive capacity at temperature of 4-6 degrees With therefore storage of food in the refrigerator does not lead to any considerable decrease in mass of listeriya. Also saline solutions which are applied to conservation of vegetables, meat and dairy products are insufficiently effective. For this reason at the diagnosis listeriosis symptoms are often shown even after the use of those food stuffs which were processed with strict observance of production requirements.

At high temperatures (over 62 degrees C) listeriya perish, but only in 35-40 minutes. If food is boiled badly thoroughly or fried thoroughly, then the single activators which survived in epithelial cells and leukocytes can cause an infection. With special attention it is worth treating cooking of salads from crude cabbage, meat semi-finished products, soft cheeses and birds.

Food way – the most widespread, but not only way of hit of an infection in a body of the person. The matter is that listeriosis often proceeds in lungs and the erased forms, that is, the patient can not suspect that he is the carrier of deadly microorganisms. The causative agent of listeriosis gets into an organism of healthy people through the damaged integuments or an air and dust way.

Listeriosis – symptoms and a clinical picture of a disease

The first symptoms of listeriosis appear in 2-3 weeks after infection. Patients feel:

• nausea and vomiting;
• drowsiness;
• abdominal pains;
• temperature (38-39 degrees).

Besides, at patients with listeriosis the signs of defeat of TsNS which are shown in the form of encephalitis, meningitis or their combinations are quite often noted. In such cases listeriosis at pregnant women and children is followed by disorders of coordination, a tremor, spasms and sometimes a stiff neck. Directly for future mothers the disease is harmless, but it extremely negatively influences fetation, especially at late stages of pregnancy. Even if the child will not die, serious violations will be almost for certain found in him: purulent conjunctivitis, bacteremia, specific educations in a liver and a spleen, papular rash. For this reason at listeriosis symptoms diagnosis of pregnant women has to be carried out as much as possible carefully to disprove or, on the contrary, to confirm the fact of presence of listeriya at an organism.

Treatment of listeriosis

As the correct diagnosis is usually made too late, treatment of listeriosis seldom comes to an end successfully. First of all, it is connected with defeats of TsNS where access of medicines is strongly complicated. Such antibiotics as ampicillin, gentamycin and Biseptolum have the greatest efficiency. If at the diagnosis listeriosis the analysis shows development of abscesses of a brain or an encephalomeningitis, then patients need prolonged treatment with use of immunocorrective drugs: Thymalinum, imunofan, miyelopid. Complex therapy of listeriosis also includes use of dehydrating and symptomatic means, disintoxication solutions, a blood plasma.

Once again we will notice: despite improvement of medical technologies and emergence of new drugs, treatment of listeriosis almost completely depends on that how in time the disease was found.

Prevention of listeriosis

Prevention of listeriosis means holding regular sanitary and hygienic actions in livestock farms and at the enterprises which process animal products. Pregnant women and other persons from risk group have to be discharged of the works connected with production of dairy and meat products or care of animals.