Published Date: 1999-03-18 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Listeriosis, butter - Finland
Archive Number: 19990318.0407

LISTERIOSIS, BUTTER - FINLAND
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See Also

Listeria, milk recall - USA (multistate) 990204213155
Listeria advisory: airline passengers 990209091246
Listeria advisory: airline passengers: date correction 990213185044
Listeriosis, multifocal - USA (10) 990124003857
Listeriosis, meat recalls - USA: expanded 990204211329

Date: Wed 17 Mar 1999 00:20:40 -0800
From: "dystopia" <dystopia@earthlink.net>
Source: Eurosurveillance Weekly, Issue 11, 11 Mar 1999
PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance
Centre, London, England
http://www.eurosurv.org/

An outbreak of listeriosis due to Listeria monocytogenes serotype 3a from
butter in Finland
----------------------
Eighteen people in Finland developed listeriosis between December 1998 and
February 1999. Sixteen had septicaemia, one central nervous system
infection, and one an abscess, and four of the cases died. The mean age was
57 years (range 18-85), all had serious underlying illnesses, and equal
numbers of both sexes were affected. These patients were treated in several
different hospitals, most in southern Finland. Most (14/18) of the disease
causing strains were of a rare serotype, 3a. In molecular typing studies
the isolates were identical by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE)
typing (epidemic type).
In February 1999, _Listeria monocytogenes_ serotype 3 was isolated from
several points in the production facility of small butter packages of a
Finnish dairy plant: environmental and butter samples in the dairy plant,
butter samples in the cold store of the dairy, and in a kitchen at one
hospital. The strains were further characterised by PFGE typing.
_L. monocytogenes_ isolates from the butter and epidemic isolates were
indistinguishable. This PFGE-type had not been isolated previously from any
other foods in Finland. _L. monocytogenes_ was detected from most of the 7g
and 10g butter packages studied, although at low levels (most <100 CFU/g,
one 11 400 CFU/g). The European Community directive on milk and milk-based
products and the Finnish milk hygiene legislation specify that the organism
should not be detected by culture of 1g of butter samples.
Production of 7g, 10g, and 0.5kg butter packages in this dairy plant was
stopped. The environmental investigation and eradication of the organism
from the production process are being implemented. The 7g, 10g, and 0.5
kg butter packages were recalled from the market in Finland. The 7g and 10g
butter packages were not exported in 1998-99. The last export of 0.5 kg
packages was to Denmark on 23 October 1998.
The Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology of the National Public
Health Institute is conducting an epidemiological investigation to
strengthen the evidence of association of butter consumption and illness as
well as describing the distribution of the contaminated butter in Finnish
hospitals. The national food control authorities are assessing the
production process to identify the exact point of contamination of the
suspected butter product. Further microbiological and molecular typing
studies of _L. monocytogenes_ are being conducted by the National Veterinary
and Food Research Institute and in the Department of Food and Environmental
Hygiene of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Helsinki University.
_L. monocytogenes_ is ubiquitous in various environments including soil,
animal, and human faeces, sewage, and water. It can cause life threatening
illnesses including septicaemia, meningoencephalitis in immunocompromised
patients, and septic abortion in neonates. Listeriosis outbreaks have been
traced to foods such as milk and other dairy products, vegetables, salads,
meat products, and fishery products, but most cases are sporadic and cannot
be linked to any specific food. _L. monocytogenes_ is psychrotrophic (grows
in the cold) and a facultative anaerobe, which make it difficult to control
in modern food processing.
Between 30 and 50 cases of listeriosis are identified each year in Finland
(5-8 cases per million inhabitants per year). In 1995-97, more than half of
the cases of listeriosis were 65 years of age or older and between four and
six cases were related to pregnancy each year. More than 10 serotypes of _L.
monocytogenes_ are known, but the commonest serotypes associated with human
listeriosis as well as being isolated from foods are types 1/2a, 1/2b, and
4b. Previously, listeriosis outbreaks caused by a specific food have not
been reported in Finland.
[see original report for credits
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@usa.healthnet.org>
[Fortunately, this is *not* the brand of Finnish butter that is exported all
over the world - Mod.JW
..........................................jw

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