Listeria was first described in 1926 by Murray, Webb, and Swann, who discovered it while investigating an epidemic infection among laboratory rabbits and guinea pigs. The role of Listeria monocytogenes as a foodborne pathogen was definitively recognized during the 1980s. This recognition was the consequence of a number of epidemic human outbreaks due to the consumption of contaminated foods, in Canada, in the USA and in Europe. Listeriosis is especially severe in immunocompromised individuals such as pregnant women. The disease has a low incidence of infection, although this is undeniably increasing, with a high fatality rate amongst those infected. In pregnant women listeriosis may cause abortion, fetal death, or neonatal morbidity in the form of septicemia and meningitis. Improved education concerning the disease, its transmission, and prevention measures for immunocompromised individuals and pregnant women has been identified as a pressing need. 1. Introduction Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram positive, facultative intracellular, foodborne pathogen responsible for cases and outbreaks of listeriosis. Listeria was first described in 1926 by Murray et al. who discovered it while investigating an epidemic infection among laboratory rabbits and guinea pigs [1]. At that time, it was given the name Bacterium monocytogenes because infection in the animals was characterized by monocytosis. The following year, Pirie isolated an identical bacterium from the liver of several gerbils and proposed the name Listerella for the genus in honor of Lord Lister a prominent surgeon of the time [2]. Despite considerable confusion in the nomenclature of the pathogen until 1940, the official name Listeria monocytogenes was adopted in the Sixth Edition of Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology [3]. The first cases of human listeriosis were reported by Nyfeldt in 1929 [4]. The increased number of reported cases during the 1980s in several countries, and the evidence of foodborne transmission, turned listeriosis into a recognized foodborne disease [5, 6]. Listeriosis has emerged as an atypical foodborne illness of major public health concern because of the severity of the disease (meningitis, septicemia, and abortion), the high case fatality rate (20–30% of cases), the long incubation period, and the predilection for individuals who have an underlying condition which leads to impairment of T-cell-mediated immunity [7]. In addition, the ubiquitous nature of L. monocytogenes and its ability to survive and grow in harsh conditions (wide pH range, high salt concentration,
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