Published Date: 2005-08-15 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Listeriosis - USA (NY)(04)
Archive Number: 20050815.2388
LISTERIOSIS - USA (NEW YORK) (04)
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Date: Sat 13 Aug 2005
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: NY Newsday [edited]
<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--listeriacase0813aug13,0,2540075.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork>
Listeria case found in the Capital region
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A sometimes fatal strain of _Listeria_ has turned up in the Capital region,
and state investigators are looking for links to 3 cases found in July 2005
in the Syracuse area. Schenectady County health officials confirmed the
single case on Fri 12 Aug 2005.
"It looks like it's coming from the same source," said Kathy Sen,
supervising community health nurse at the Schenectady County Health
Department. Sen said the unidentified patient is thought to have been
hospitalized with the illness in July 2005 before recovering. Health
officials would not provide details about the patient, citing federal
confidentiality rules.
State health officials say the cases in Onondaga and Schenectady counties
are the only ones they know of. They are looking for a food item,
restaurant or other common denominator among the 4 victims.
Listeriosis can be fatal, but severe symptoms are unusual in healthy adults
and children. The disease most often affects pregnant women, newborns or
people with weakened immune systems.
In 1998, 16 people died in a multistate outbreak of listeriosis linked to
contaminated hot dogs and deli meats, including a 75-year-old Liverpool woman.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Elsevier on-line reference:
Methods for the isolation and identification of Listeria spp. and Listeria
monocytogenes: a review. FEMS Microbiology Reviews,
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.femsre.2004.12.002>]
[It has become clear in the past few years that sporadic cases of
listeriosis are almost always part of a larger food-borne cluster. When
small numbers of cases are recognized, the source of the cluster can be
more difficult to find. - Mod.LL]