Potentials of human exposure to Listeria spp. from dairy cattle

A. E. Abdel-Ghany; M. A. Ibrahim

Potentials of human exposure to Listeria spp. from dairy cattle

2010

A. E. Abdel-Ghany | M. A. Ibrahim

This study was performed in the period February 2009 through January 2010 to determine the role of dairy cattle in transmitting listeriosis to man in Beni-Suef Governorate, Egypt. Individual milk samples and rectal swabs were gathered from 175 dairy cows (125 clinically diseased and 50 apparently healthy). A total of 75 kariesh cheese and 150 dairy shop milk samples were randomly collected from the same localities where the examined cattle were reared. Stool and blood samples were taken from 125 humans comprising 75 individuals residing in close contact with the examined cows and 50 feverish inpatients. The occurrence of Listeria spp. in the examined dairy cattle revealed that 1.14 % of individual milk samples harboured Listeria spp.; L. innocua (0.57 %) and L. seeligeri (0.57 %). None of rectal swabs revealed a positive result. L. monocytogenes could not be recovered from any of the examined cattle samples. Examination of kariesh cheese demonstrated a positive result to L. innocua (1.33 %). Concerning dairy shop milk examined, 5.33 % was Listeria spp.-positive; they were identified as L.monocytogenes (2.67 %), L. innocua (1.33 %) and L.seeligeri (1.33 %). Examination of humans revealed a positive result for L. welshimeri in a stool sample (0.8 %) taken from an apparently healthy woman while all the examined blood sampleswere Listeria-negative. It was concluded that listeriosis in Beni-Suef Governorate appears to be ofsporadic nature and that the potential of human exposure to Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes from dairy cattle is more likely to exist in dairy shop milk rather than being related to the animal itself.

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