Thursday, April 9th 2009
- 1:01 am UTC Listeriosis outbreak in Santiago de Chile
Source of
Article: http://en.mercopress.com/2009/04/09/listeriosis-outbreak-in-santiago-de-chile Santiago de Chile health
officials promised information on the latest listeriosis outbreak in the
metropolitan region with eight confirmed cases including one death and two
miscarriages caused by the bacteria. Andrea
Olea, head of the Epidemiology Department from the Chilean Public Health
ministry said that probably on Friday the results of samples taken at five
different food companies suspected of products with the listeriosis strain
will be made public. Samples
have been taken of produce such as dried meat, chicken, pork, pâté, ham and
bologna said Ms Olea who added the investigation process takes time. In
each case “we ask the patient what he ate, where he bought it, if he
remembers the brand and then we visit the factory and take samples. So far we
have detected five processing plants, relatively unknown, not too big but we
will not release names until the final report has been checked”, said Ms
Olea. The
death case was an adult who developed a septicaemia situation following the
intake of the listeriosis bacteria. To this must be added a foetus death and
a miscarriage since foetus, newly born, elderly and people with low defences
are the most vulnerable and exposed to the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes
reported the epidemiologist. Last
year Santiago de Chile suffered another outbreak of listeriosis with 119
confirmed cases and five deaths. The origin of the contagion was tracked to
soft cheese, from the “Chevita” brand, but according to Ms Olea “this time
it’s a different strain”. Listeriosis
is described as a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with
the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, The disease affects primarily persons
of advanced age, pregnant women, newborns, and adults with weakened immune
systems. However, persons without these risk factors can also rarely be
affected. The risk may be reduced by following a few simple recommendations. A
person with listeriosis has fever, muscle aches, and sometimes
gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhoea. If infection spreads
to the nervous system, symptoms such as headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss
of balance, or convulsions can occur. Infected
pregnant women may experience only a mild, flu-like illness; however,
infections during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage or stillbirth, premature
delivery, or infection of the newborn. |
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