In a novel study French researchers reported that people having certain conditions such as leukemia, other cancers and pregnancy are at higher risk of becoming ill from the food-borne bacteria known as Listeria. It is already known that these conditions make people more susceptible to listeriosis.
Several food items such as raw cheese, deli-meat and smoked seafood are believed to harbor Listeria virus, but it looks unusual that people actually become sick from it. For their study, researchers from the Institut de Veille Sanitaire in Saint-Maurice examined nearly two thousand cases of listeriosis in France.
Despite rarity of the condition, listeriosis is still measured as significant public health worry as it is comparatively more lethal than other food-borne diseases. The study showed that about four hundred people among two thousand who developed listeriosis died. About one in six of the listeriosis cases in France affected expecting women.
Remaining sixty-five percent of people involved in the study had an underlying health condition and forty percent were enduring treatment that suppressed their immune systems. The study author Dr. Véronique Goulet and colleagues resolved that people suffering chronic lymphocytic leukemia were one thousand times at higher risk of developing listeriosis than general population.
More than fifty out of one hundred thousand people suffering leukemia developed the condition. People suffering other cancers, such as myeloma, lymphoma, oesophageal and liver cancers were also at higher risk of becoming ill from Listeria. The study findings were published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Diabetic and elderly people have greater chance of developing listeriosis that healthy people, but the number of cases among these groups are very small. Some people should avoid eating certain foods. For example such recommendations are not advisable for elderly as the incidence is very low among them, added Prof Goulet.
According to recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people should wash produce before eating, counting scrubbing the outside of firm fruits and vegetables such as melons and cucumbers. Besides, keep the refrigerator colder than forty degrees Fahrenheit, thoroughly cook meat and toss freshly-sliced deli-meats after three to five days.