Usefulness of the European Epidemic Intelligence Information System in the management of an outbreak of listeriosis, Belgium, 2011

Euro Surveill. 2012 Sep 20;17(38):20279.

Abstract

A cluster of time-linked cases and the identification of a clonal strain suggest the occurrence of an outbreak of listeriosis in Belgium in 2011, presumably due to the consumption of hard cheese made with pasteurised milk and produced by a Belgium manufacturer. The outbreak clone was identified as Listeria monocytogenes serovar 1/2a, sensitive to arsenic and cadmium and of multilocus sequence typing MLST-type 37. Food investigation of this outbreak was facilitated by the European Epidemic Intelligence Information System and data exchanged between French and Belgium listeriosis surveillance systems.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Arsenites / immunology
  • Bacterial Typing Techniques
  • Belgium / epidemiology
  • Cadmium Chloride / immunology
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Disease Outbreaks / prevention & control*
  • Disease Outbreaks / statistics & numerical data
  • Drug Resistance, Microbial
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field
  • Europe
  • Female
  • Foodborne Diseases / diagnosis
  • Foodborne Diseases / epidemiology
  • Foodborne Diseases / prevention & control
  • Geographic Information Systems
  • Hospitalization / statistics & numerical data
  • Hospitalization / trends
  • Humans
  • Information Dissemination*
  • Listeria monocytogenes / immunology
  • Listeria monocytogenes / isolation & purification*
  • Listeriosis / diagnosis*
  • Listeriosis / epidemiology*
  • Listeriosis / microbiology
  • Listeriosis / prevention & control
  • Male
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Middle Aged
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Population Surveillance / methods*

Substances

  • Arsenites
  • Cadmium Chloride