South Africa Listeria Death Toll Rises – No Source of Outbreak Found

915 Sick with 172 Deaths.

According to the National Institute For Communicable Diseases:

As of 20 February 2018, 915 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases have been reported to NICD since 01 January 2017 (Figure 1). Most cases have been reported from Gauteng Province (59%, 541/915) followed by Western Cape (12%, 112/915) and KwaZulu-Natal (7%, 66/915) provinces. Cases have been diagnosed in both public (64%, 587/915) and private (36%, 328/915) healthcare sectors. Diagnosis was based most commonly on the isolation of Listeria monocytogenes in blood culture (73%, 669/915), followed by CSF (22%, 198/915). Where age was reported (n=886), ages range from birth to 92 years (median 20 years) and 41% (361/886) are neonates aged ≤28 days (Figure 2). Of neonatal cases, 97% (351/361) had early-onset disease (birth to ≤6 days). Females account for 56% (499/886) of cases where gender is reported. Final outcome data is available for 67% (617/915) of cases, of which 28% (172/617) died.

Republished with permission from Bill Marler and Marler Clark. Copyright (c) Marler Clark LLP, PS. All rights reserved.