An outbreak of food-borne listeriosis due to cheese in Japan, during 2001

Food-borne outbreaks caused by Listeria monocytogenes have been recognized in US and European countries. Only sporadic cases, of neonatal listeriosis, have been reported in Japan. Since L. monocytogenes has been often isolated from foods in Japan, food-borne outbreaks potentially could have occurred...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of food microbiology 2005-10, Vol.104 (2), p.189-196
Main Authors: Makino, S.-I., Kawamoto, K., Takeshi, K., Okada, Y., Yamasaki, M., Yamamoto, S., Igimi, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Cheese
Cheese - microbiology
Colony Count, Microbial
Disease Outbreaks
Food Contamination - analysis
Food Handling - methods
Food industries
Food Microbiology
Food-borne listeriosis
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genotype
Humans
Japan - epidemiology
L. monocytogenes
Listeria monocytogenes
Listeria monocytogenes - classification
Listeria monocytogenes - isolation & purification
Listeriosis - epidemiology
Milk and cheese industries. Ice creams
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Summary:Food-borne outbreaks caused by Listeria monocytogenes have been recognized in US and European countries. Only sporadic cases, of neonatal listeriosis, have been reported in Japan. Since L. monocytogenes has been often isolated from foods in Japan, food-borne outbreaks potentially could have occurred. In February 2001, L. monocytogenes serotype 1/2b was isolated from a washed-type cheese during routine Listeria monitoring of 123 domestic cheeses. Further samples from products and the environments at the plant that produced the contaminated cheese were examined for L. monocytogenes. L. monocytogenes serotype 1/2b was detected in 15 cheese samples, at most probable number that ranged from < 30 to 4.6 × 10 9/100 g, and in environmental samples. Studies with people who had consumed cheese from the plant revealed 86 persons who had been infected with L. monocytogenes. Thirty-eight of those people had developed clinical symptoms of gastroenteritis or the common cold type after the consumption of cheese. Isolates from those patients exhibited the same serotype, pathogenicity for mice and HeLa cells, DNA fingerprinting patterns and PCR amplification patterns. From the epidemiological and genetic evidence, it appeared that the outbreak was caused by cheese. This is the first documented incidence of food-borne listeriosis in Japan.
ISSN:0168-1605
1879-3460
DOI:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2005.02.009