Review

Authors: Merel M Koopmans, Matthijs C Brouwer, José A Vázquez-Boland...

Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive facultative intracellular pathogen that can cause severe invasive infections upon ingestion with contaminated food. Clinically, listerial disease, or listeriosis, most often presents as bacteremia, meningitis or meningoencephalitis, and pregnancy-associated infections manifesting as miscarriage or neonatal sepsis. Invasive listeriosis is life-threatening and a main cause of foodborne illness leading to hospital admissions in Western countries. Sources of contamination can be identified through international surveillance systems for foodborne bacteria and strains' genetic data sharing. Large-scale whole genome studies have increased our knowledge on the diversity and evolution of L. monocytogenes, while recent pathophysiological investigations have improved our mechanistic understanding of listeriosis. In this article, we present an overview of human listeriosis with particular focus on relevant features of the causative bacterium, epidemiology, risk groups, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, and treatment and prevention.

Topics: Pregnancy; Female; Infant, Newborn; Humans; Listeriosis; Listeria monocytogenes; Risk Factors; Bacteremia; Food Microbiology

PubMed: 36475874
DOI: 10.1128/cmr.00060-19

Review

Authors: Caroline Charlier, Olivier Disson, Marc Lecuit...

Listeriosis is a rare and severe foodborne infection caused by . It manifests as septicemia, neurolisteriosis, and maternal-fetal infection. In pregnancy, it may cause maternal fever, premature delivery, fetal loss, neonatal systemic and central nervous system infections. Maternal listeriosis is mostly reported during the 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy, as sporadic cases or in the context of outbreaks. Strains belonging to clonal complexes 1, 4 and 6, referred to as hypervirulent, are the most associated to maternal-neonatal infections. Here we review the clinical, pathophysiological, and microbiological features of maternal-neonatal listeriosis.

Topics: Animals; Female; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Newborn, Diseases; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; Listeria monocytogenes; Listeriosis; Mice; Placenta; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; Risk Factors

PubMed: 32363991
DOI: 10.1080/21505594.2020.1759287

Review

Authors: Marc Lecuit

Listeria monocytogenes causes listeriosis, a systemic infection which manifests as bacteremia, often complicated by meningoencephalitis in immunocompromised individuals and the elderly, and fetal-placental infection in pregnant women. It has emerged over the past decades as a major foodborne pathogen, responsible for numerous outbreaks in Western countries, and more recently in Africa. L. monocytogenes' pathogenic properties have been studied in detail, thanks to concomitant advances in biological sciences, in particular molecular biology, cell biology and immunology. L. monocytogenes has also been instrumental to basic advances in life sciences. L. monocytogenes therefore stands both a tool to understand biology and a model in infection biology. This review briefly summarises the clinical and some of the pathophysiological features of listeriosis. In the context of this special issue, it highlights some of the major discoveries made by Pascale Cossart in the fields of molecular and cellular microbiology since the mid-eighties regarding the identification and characterisation of multiple bacterial and host factors critical to L. monocytogenes pathogenicity. It also briefly summarises some of the key findings from our laboratory on this topic over the past years.

Topics: Animals; Food Microbiology; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Humans; Listeria monocytogenes; Listeriosis; Mice; Sepsis

PubMed: 32185900
DOI: 10.1111/cmi.13186

Review

Authors: Walter F Schlech

Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive pathogenic bacterium which can be found in soil or water. Infection with the organism can develop after ingestion of contaminated food products. Small and large outbreaks of listeriosis have been described. Listeria monocytogenes can cause a number of clinical syndromes, most frequently sepsis, meningitis, and rhombencephalitis, particularly in immunocompromised hosts. The latter syndrome mimics the veterinary infection in ruminants called "circling disease". Neonatal infection can occur as a result of maternal chorioamnionitis ("early onset" sepsis) or through passage through a birth canal colonized with Listeria from the gastrointestinal tract. ("late onset" meningitis). Treatment of listeriosis is usually with a combination of ampicillin and an aminoglycoside but other regimens have been used. The mortality rate is high, reflecting the combination of an immunocompromised host and an often delayed diagnosis.

Topics: Animals; Biliary Tract Diseases; Encephalitis; Female; Foodborne Diseases; Gastroenteritis; Gastrointestinal Tract; Hepatitis; Humans; Listeria monocytogenes; Listeriosis; Liver Abscess; Meningitis; Meningoencephalitis; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Peritonitis; Pregnancy; Sepsis

PubMed: 31837132
DOI: 10.1128/microbiolspec.GPP3-0014-2018

Review

Authors: J M Farber, P I Peterkin

The gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is an ubiquitous, intracellular pathogen which has been implicated within the past decade as the causative organism in several outbreaks of foodborne disease. Listeriosis, with a mortality rate of about 24%, is found mainly among pregnant women, their fetuses, and immunocompromised persons, with symptoms of abortion, neonatal death, septicemia, and meningitis. Epidemiological investigations can make use of strain-typing procedures such as DNA restriction enzyme analysis or electrophoretic enzyme typing. The organism has a multifactorial virulence system, with the thiol-activated hemolysin, listeriolysin O, being identified as playing a crucial role in the organism's ability to multiply within host phagocytic cells and to spread from cell to cell. The organism occurs widely in food, with the highest incidences being found in meat, poultry, and seafood products. Improved methods for detecting and enumerating the organism in foodstuffs are now available, including those based on the use of monoclonal antibodies, DNA probes, or the polymerase chain reaction. As knowledge of the molecular and applied biology of L. monocytogenes increases, progress can be made in the prevention and control of human infection.

Topics: Animals; Food Microbiology; Humans; Listeria monocytogenes; Listeriosis; Virulence

PubMed: 1943998
DOI: 10.1128/mr.55.3.476-511.1991

Authors: Ijlas El Founti Khsim, Ahalini Mohanaraj-Anton, Ivar Benjamin Horte...

BACKGROUND

Listeria monocytogenes is a commonly found organism in processed and prepared food and the disease of listeriosis is associated with a high morbidity and mortality. Compared with the general population, the risk of being diagnosed with listeriosis increases during pregnancy. Listeriosis can lead to miscarriage, spontaneous preterm labour and preterm birth, stillbirth and congenital neonatal infections.

OBJECTIVES

We conducted a universal review of listeriosis in pregnancy and in the newborn.

SEARCH STRATEGY

The EMBASE, PubMed, Cinahl and Web of Science databases were searched for systematic reviews indexed before 1 December 2020.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Any systematic reviews evaluating the prevalence, treatment, diagnosis and effects of listeriosis during pregnancy and up to 4 weeks postnatally were included.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Eligibility assessment, data extraction and quality assessment by the Methodological Quality Assessment of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR-2) were performed in duplicate.

MAIN RESULTS

We identified 397 citations of which nine systematic reviews comprising 330 studies and 487 patients' reviews were included. Most systematic reviews (seven of nine) were of moderate to high quality. Prevention in pregnant women was based on adherence to strict dietary recommendations, such as reheating leftovers until steamed and avoiding unpasteurised dairy products. Listeriosis infections were likely to occur in the third trimester (66%) rather than in the first trimester (3%) of pregnancy. Symptoms are mostly fever and other flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue. Diagnosis was primarily made by culture of the pathogen. Intravenous amoxicillin or ampicillin were first-line treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Listeriosis, a rare but serious infectious disease in pregnancy, can cause devastating consequences for the fetus and newborn. Appropriate preventative treatment should be initiated during early pregnancy to avoid complications.

TWEETABLE ABSTRACT

Listeria is commonly found in processed and prepared food. Prevention is the best way to avoid listeriosis during pregnancy.

Topics: Female; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Newborn, Diseases; Listeriosis; Maternal Exposure; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; Premature Birth; Stillbirth; Systematic Reviews as Topic

PubMed: 34954888
DOI: 10.1111/1471-0528.17073

Review

Authors: Itumeleng Matle, Khanyisile R Mbatha, Evelyn Madoroba...

Listeria monocytogenes is a zoonotic food-borne pathogen that is associated with serious public health and economic implications. In animals, L. monocytogenes can be associated with clinical listeriosis, which is characterised by symptoms such as abortion, encephalitis and septicaemia. In human beings, listeriosis symptoms include encephalitis, septicaemia and meningitis. In addition, listeriosis may cause gastroenteric symptoms in human beings and still births or spontaneous abortions in pregnant women. In the last few years, a number of reported outbreaks and sporadic cases associated with consumption of contaminated meat and meat products with L. monocytogenes have increased in developing countries. A variety of virulence factors play a role in the pathogenicity of L. monocytogenes. This zoonotic pathogen can be diagnosed using both classical microbiological techniques and molecular-based methods. There is limited information about L. monocytogenes recovered from meat and meat products in African countries. This review strives to: (1) provide information on prevalence and control measures of L. monocytogenes along the meat value chain, (2) describe the epidemiology of L. monocytogenes (3) provide an overview of different methods for detection and typing of L. monocytogenes for epidemiological, regulatory and trading purposes and (4) discuss the pathogenicity, virulence traits and antimicrobial resistance profiles of L. monocytogenes.

Topics: Africa; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Food Microbiology; Humans; Listeria monocytogenes; Listeriosis; Meat; Meat Products

PubMed: 33054262
DOI: 10.4102/ojvr.v87i1.1869

Authors: Andrew Wang, Sarah C Huen, Harding H Luan...

Acute infections are associated with a set of stereotypic behavioral responses, including anorexia, lethargy, and social withdrawal. Although these so-called sickness behaviors are the most common and familiar symptoms of infections, their roles in host defense are largely unknown. Here, we investigated the role of anorexia in models of bacterial and viral infections. We found that anorexia was protective while nutritional supplementation was detrimental in bacterial sepsis. Furthermore, glucose was necessary and sufficient for these effects. In contrast, nutritional supplementation protected against mortality from influenza infection and viral sepsis, whereas blocking glucose utilization was lethal. In both bacterial and viral models, these effects were largely independent of pathogen load and magnitude of inflammation. Instead, we identify opposing metabolic requirements tied to cellular stress adaptations critical for tolerance of differential inflammatory states. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

Topics: Animals; Antimetabolites; Cells, Cultured; Deoxyglucose; Disease Management; Fasting; Glucose; Humans; Illness Behavior; Inflammation; Influenza, Human; Lipopolysaccharides; Listeriosis; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Nutritional Support; Poly I-C; Sepsis; Transcription Factor CHOP

PubMed: 27610573
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.07.026

Authors: Jun Zhou, Jiaqi Liu, Bingjing Wang...

Memory CD8 T cell generation is crucial for pathogen elimination and effective vaccination against infection. The cellular and molecular circuitry that underlies the generation of memory CD8 T cells remains elusive. Eosinophils can modulate inflammatory allergic responses and interact with lymphocytes to regulate their functions in immune defense. Here we report that eosinophils are required for the generation of memory CD8 T cells by inhibiting CD8 T cell apoptosis. Eosinophil-deficient mice display significantly impaired memory CD8 T cell response and weakened resistance against Listeria monocytogenes (L.m.) infection. Mechanistically, eosinophils secrete interleukin-4 (IL-4) to inhibit JNK/Caspase-3 dependent apoptosis of CD8 T cells upon L.m. infection in vitro. Furthermore, active eosinophils are recruited into the spleen and secrete more IL-4 to suppress CD8 T cell apoptosis during early stage of L.m. infection in vivo. Adoptive transfer of wild-type (WT) eosinophils but not IL-4-deficient eosinophils into eosinophil-deficient mice could rescue the impaired CD8 T cell memory responses. Together, our findings suggest that eosinophil-derived IL-4 promotes the generation of CD8 T cell memory and enhances immune defense against L.m. infection. Our study reveals a new adjuvant role of eosinophils in memory T cell generation and provides clues for enhancing the vaccine potency via targeting eosinophils and related cytokines.

Topics: Mice; Animals; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes; Listeriosis; Interleukin-4; Eosinophils; Memory T Cells

PubMed: 38413575
DOI: 10.1038/s41392-024-01752-0

Authors: J H Han van der Kolk

Topics: Listeria monocytogenes; Listeriosis

PubMed: 26566223
DOI: 10.1080/01652176.2015.1105600