Listeriosis Outbreak in South Africa – Latest!

20 December 2017
LISTERIOSIS OUTBREAK IN SOUTH AFRICA – LATEST!
The NICD has provided the latest update on the listeriosis outbreak in South Africa – attached to this note as at 19 December. There are now 647 confirmed cases (550 on 5 December) i.e. almost 100 more in a question of 14 days. VERY sadly, there are 60 deaths; an increase of 24 in 14 days! Neonates are the most affected. This is undoubtedly one of the worst listeriosis cases in global history. A large percentage (74%) of all the clinical isolates belong to the same sequence type i.e. ST6 – this means that these isolates originate from a single source, most likely a food product on the market.
The outbreak is now across all provinces. Considering the rapid increase seen in Figure 1 of the NICD Alert (attached), this outbreak has not yet peaked. This is very disturbing as we shall most likely see more cases and most unfortunately, more deaths in the next few weeks.
Come on South Africans, let’s end this by working with the NICD to identify the source and remove it from the market!
Further information can be found on the Anelich Consulting website at http://anelichconsulting.co.za/index.php/industry-news and http://www.anelichconsulting.co.za/index.php/faq.