By studying the data collected on listeriosis in France since 1999, French researchers have made progress in understanding the disease and its treatment.
In France, listeriosis has been a notifiable disease since 1999, and 98% of infections reported nationally have been submitted to the National Reference Center Listeria (CNRL), at the Institut Pasteur. A systematic referencing which has enabled its researchers, associated with those of Inserm and Paris Descartes University, to study the factors of contamination and treatment of the disease. They draw several conclusions that they publish in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
“Certain patients without comorbid factors particularly attract our attention”, explains Prof. Marc Lecuit, microbiologist and director of the CNRL. They are younger than others, and it is possible that their infection is favored by their genetic makeup, say the researchers.
A more effective antibiotic
On the treatment, important conclusions were also drawn. On the one hand, it seems that the prescription of corticosteroids can be harmful. Then, the therapeutic efficacy of an antibiotic that is not included in the usual recommendations for the treatment of listeriosis becomes clear. This is the class of aminoglycosides (amikacin, gentamicin, nebcine). “These two facts have immediate and concrete clinical implications”, rejoices Professor Lecuit.
Regularly, health scandals remind us that listeriosis is a dangerous disease. This infection by the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes is fatal, which is why its presence is so closely monitored by health authorities in foods, especially cold meats and dairy products.
Miscarriage in 24% of cases
Pregnant women and people over 65 are particularly affected, as well as patients suffering from immunosuppression, tumors, or other chronic pathologies (cirrhosis, diabetes, alcoholism, etc.). It is for pregnant women, to whom doctors strongly advise against cold meats or raw milk cheese, that monitoring should be the most important.
“In case of infection with Listeria monocytogenes, only 5% of pregnancies proceed normally ”recalled Dr Caroline Charlier, from the infectious disease center of the Necker-Enfants Malades hospital, co-author of the study. A quarter of these pregnancies (24%) end in miscarriage. The researchers were also able to establish that this risk of miscarriage was highest before the 29th week.
In the rest of the population, listeriosis causes death in 20 to 30% of patients, who develop sepsis or an infection of the nervous system.
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