Medycyna Wet. 65 (3), 151-154, 2009
full text
| Jerzy Molenda |
| Listeriosis - pathogenicity, a food safety perspective. |
| Human listeriosis has been recognized for a long time but the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in many food products and the illnesses resulting from their consumption were revealed rather recently. The illness is considered by some to be an oportunistic disease and healthy individuals may not develop symptoms or show only a mild enteric form of outbreak. However, it is highly fatal /30-40%/ to fetuses, newborn infants, pregnant woomen and immunocompromised people. In addition, its ability to grow in foods at refrigerator temperature helps the organism multiplicate from a low initial content to an infective dose level during storage. The likelihood that L.monocytogenes will invade intestinal tissue depends on a number of factors, including the number of organisms consumed, host susceptibility and virulence of the specific isolate. New data on the mechanism of pathogenicity and the role of some genetic determinants of the pathogen virulence are discussed. More attention was given to σB factor, that functions as a central regulator of the stress response in L.monocytogenes. A mechanistic understanding of the activation process and assessment of its regulon can provide tools for pathogen control and inactivation in food production. |
| Key words: L.monocytogenes, pathogenicity, genetic determination, factor σB |