Listeria, a challenge for pregnancy?

Abstract

Listeriosis is uncommon in the general population, but it is far more frequent in pregnant women and newborns. In recent years, we have detected a significant increase in the number of cases in Gipuzkoa. In adults, the source of infection is ingested food and across the placenta to the fetus and newborn (vertical transmission). In this work, we describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of listeriosis cases in pregnant women and newborns in Gipuzkoa over a seven year period (2008-2014). Cases were documented by Environmental Public Service technicians and molecular analysis of samples was performed by the Microbiology Service at the DonostiaUniversitary Hospital, in order to identify different bacterial strains.They were 73 new cases of listeriosis between 2008 and 2014, with 52 of them occurring in 2012-2014. We analyzed the microbiological and clinical characteristics of these cases. We also found a 3-fold increment in the incidence of listeriosis during 2013 comparing to 10 years before (22 cases), with 9 cases in pregnant women and newborns. As this disease has no specific clinical manifestations in the mother or newborn (fever and digestive symptoms), diagnosis could be difficult if clinicians are not aware of this possibility. An early diagnosis and treatment (ampicillin) can prevent complications such as premature birth and septic abortion. In the studied population, most of the pregnant women presented fever and premature labor. In the light of our data and the finding that infected food is the main transmission route, we consider that more education regarding nutritional health can prevent the majority of cases.