At least 872 sickened – no cause of outbreak yet discovered.

Wendy Knowler of the Johannesburg Sunday Times reports that the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) continues to try and pinpoint what has now become the largest Listeria death toll in the world.

The number of confirmed listeriosis cases is now 872, and 164 of those have died – up from 107 last week. The current mortality rate is a staggering 27%.

Of those confirmed cases, 43% were babies of less than a month old – pregnant women being 20 times more likely to get listeriosis than other healthy adults.

Contracted by eating food containing the listeria pathogen, listeriosis is by far the deadliest of foodborne diseases.

I got to speak today to the listeriosis workshop hosted by the South African Association of Food Science and Technology (SAAFoST) in Johannesburg via a webinar.  Here is the link to my speech outline:

https://www.slideshare.net/marlerclark/2018-south-africa-food-focus-webinar