Chester County Medicine Winter 2021 - 17

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uncommon, and describe the disease
as an uncommonly diagnosed and
sporadically occurring illness here,
which mainly targets the elderly,
immunocompromised, pregnant
women and neonates. It can be a
serious disease, usually manifested
by meningoencephalitis, and/or
septicemia in newborns and adults,
as well as fever and abortion in
pregnant women. Indeed, those at
higher risk do include neonates,
pregnant women, the elderly, and the
immunocompromised. But while
the " normal " host may have an acute,
mild, febrile illness, the CDC reports
a case fatality rate (CFR) exceeding
35% in non-pregnant adults, ranging
from 11% (those /= 60 years old).
The CDC estimates that 1600
Americans get listeriosis each
year. Some may not be specifically
identified as such. Only a few actual
outbreaks are identified here each
year, but health experts remind us
that most individual cases may not
be recognized as part of a multi-state
outbreak.
Just since September 2019, two
reported outbreaks of listeriosis have
received much attention: first, the
CDC reported a listeria outbreak
associated with deli meats and
cheeses sliced at store counters,
which identified 10 infected people
in 4 states, including one death
(MI). Considering that deli meats
and cheeses, like ground hamburger
meat, are among the most commonly
consumed food products in America,
the potential for disaster could be
huge if not identified and interdicted
by health and industry officials.

Second, in early 2020, 8 people in 5
states were infected with listeria; 5 were
hospitalized and one died (Tx). While
these numbers may seem small, this
outbreak was connected to hard-boiled
eggs commercially prepared by a food
producer in Georgia with interstate retail
customers, and resulted in the recall of

their products sold under more than 30
brand names for other food services, as well
as for direct sale to consumers in stores.
As an indication of the potential
for widespread geographic/population
exposure to listeria, Figure 1 shows U.S.
outbreaks just for the years 2011 - 2020.
continued on next page >

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