Table 5.
Characteristics of sporadic foodborne listeriosis cases in the community: England and Wales 1981–2015
| Case Number | Month and year of onset | Regions | Food type | Epidemiological evidence | Clinical microbiological evidence | Food microbiological evidence | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | January 1986 | L | Soft cheese | Patient interview identified consuming soft cheese | L. monocytogenes serovar 4b isolated from the CSF of a 36 year-old non-pregnant female | L. monocytogenes indistinguishable by phage typing isolated from remnant of a French cheese collected from the patient's domestic refrigerator | [7] |
| S2 | February 1988 | L | Soft cheese | Interview with patient's family identified consuming soft cheese and retailer where this was purchased | L. monocytogenes serovar 4b was isolated from the CSF of a 40 year-old non-pregnant female | L. monocytogenes indistinguishable by phage typing heavily contaminated unopened English soft cheeses collected at retail in February 1988. During the rest of 1988, the same L. monocytogenes strain was isolated from 16 of 24 cheeses sampled at retail and 12 out of 24 cheeses and shelving sampled from the factory which was located in the South of England. L. monocytogenes sampled from cheeses at the factory was present at <10 cfu/g, but 6 of 16 samples tested at retail were contaminated at between 105 and 107 cfu/g | [9, 10] |
| S3 | 1988 | Y&H | Cooked chicken | Patient interview identified consuming cooked chicken | L. monocytogenes (serogroup 4) was recovered from maternal blood and sites on a spontaneously delivered non-viable 23 week foetus | L. monocytogenes indistinguishable by phage typing was recovered from remnants of a commercially prepared cooked chicken from the patient's domestic refrigerator | [8] |
| S4 | 1988 | Y&H | Vegetable rennet | Patient interview identified consuming vegetable rennet | L. monocytogenes serogroup 4 was isolated from placental swabs, maternal blood and foetal blood from a 23 week miscarriage | L. monocytogenes indistinguishable by phage typing was recovered from a 3-month-old bottle of vegetable rennet collected from the patient's domestic refrigerator | [8] |
| S5 | July 2005 | NW | Sliced cooked meat | The patient reported eating cheese and sliced ox tongue purchased from a local supermarket. | L. monocytogenes serovar 1/2b (AFLP II) was isolated from the blood of an 84 year-old female | L. monocytogenes indistinguishable by AFLP and PFGE was isolates recovered by unrelated testing of sliced meat | (PHE unpublished) |
| S6 | September 2006 | L | Sliced cooked meat | Patient reported eating sliced meats from a single producer | L. monocytogenes serotype 1/2a AFLP type VII was recovered from the blood of a 72 year-old female | The same strain by AFLP and PFGE was detected in sliced honey roast ham sampled from the producer in December 2006. Over the following 3 months, a further 55 L. monocytogenes isolates were recovered from samples collected from this producer: 10 from meat slicing machines and environmental samples, and the remaining 45 were from sliced ham at <20 to 103 cfu/g. Five different L. monocytogenes strains were recovered from these samples, none of which was the same strain as that recovered from the patient. | (PHE unpublished) |
| S7 | May 2008 | L | Chopped cooked liver | Nursing home staff identified patient had consumed cooked liver | L. monocytogenes serotype 1/2a, fAFLP type III.10 was isolated from the blood an 89 year-old female | Samples of food were collected from a refrigerator in the nursing home and the same strain of L. monocytogenes as recovered in cooked chopped liver at 102−103 cfu/g. The cooked liver was prepared by a local delicatessen and the same L. monocytogenes strain was detected at <20 cfu/g from this product as well as from a conveyer belt, a meat slicer and a preparation sink. | (PHE unpublished) |
| S8 | July 2009 | E | Olives | The patient identified consuming olives in garlic and sweet chili oil | L. monocytogenes serogroup 4, fAFLP type UD4.1 was isolated from the blood of 29 year-old female who delivered an infant with listeriosis at 39 weeks by caesarean section. | The patient was interviewed and olives in garlic and sweet chili oil were recovered from the patient's refrigerator and yielded the same L. monocytogenes type (serotype 4, fAFLP type UD4.1) at 40 cfu/g. Olives and environmental samples were taken from the local market stall identified by the patient as the place of purchase as well as the local food business operator who marinated the olives and supplied these to the market stall-holder. The same type of L. monocytogenes as recovered from the patient was also recovered from black olives in garlic and sweet chili sauce, a wooden serving bowl from the market stall and a cutting blade used to chop garlic for the marinade at the point of production. Except for the sample collected from the patient's home, L. monocytogenes was recovered from olives at <20 cfu/g. | (PHE unpublished) |
| S9 | October 2011 | NW | Sliced ox tongue | Patient identified eating sliced meats from a local retailer | L. monocytogenes serovar 1/2b, fAFLP type IVb19, CC59 was isolated from the blood of a 70 year-old male | The same strain was recovered at <10 to 120 CFU/g from cooked ox tongue in April 2011 at retailer and at the producer in July 2011. Further isolates of this strain were obtained from cooked ox tongue collected at retail which were obtained in April and October 2011 at levels of between 50 and 104 cfu/g in opened and unopened packs including from the local retailer identified by the patient. | [18] |
| S10 | June 2012 | NW | Sliced cook meat | Patient identified consuming ox-tongue from a local supermarket | L. monocytogenes serogroup 1/2a (fAFLP type IX.14) was isolated from the blood of a 72 year-old female | Sampling at the supermarket identified by the patient as the place of purchase recovered 18 L. monocytogenes isolates of the same fAFLP type from four different types of loose cooked meats (ham, tongue, beef and chicken) as well as environmental samples from the meat display counter, a chiller and a meat slicer. | (PHE unpublished) |
NK, not known; L, London Region; E, East Region; NW, North West Region; Y&H, Yorkshire and Humberside Region; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; AFLP, amplified fragment polymorphism; fAFLP, fluorescent amplified fragment polymorphism; PFGE, pulsed field gel electrophoresis; cfu, colony-forming units.