Listeria monocytogenes also can induce meningitis in people with a weakened immune system and miscarriages and stillbirths in infected pregnant women.
About one-third of all Listeria cases are recorded in pregnant women, and the mortality rate is about 20 percent to 30 percent.
`Food-borne illness from Listeria has the most significant impact on pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and adults with weakened immune systems,` Sofos says.
In the last several years, large-scale outbreaks have led to initiatives, including a new regulation for, within the regulatory agencies and the food industry, to control the presence of the bacterium and prevent its survival and growth in ready-to-eat products.
The National Integrated Food Safety Initiative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which will fund the project through September 2009, awarded the grant.
Source: www.dvmnews.com/dvm/
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