HPR volume 15 issues 5 and 6: news (24 March 2021)

Updated 19 January 2022

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Listeriosis in England and Wales in 2019

Listeriosis remains a rarely reported disease in England and Wales, with only 142 cases reported in 2019 (an incidence rate below 3 cases per million of the population). Despite a decline in reported cases in 2019, the number of outbreaks of listeriosis remained comparable to previous years. Nevertheless, due to the severity of the infection, the high case fatality rate and the impact on vulnerable groups, listeriosis remains an important public health concern.

National surveillance of listeriosis in England and Wales (co-ordinated by the Gastrointestinal Pathogens Unit within Public Health England’s National Infection Service) involves the collation of routinely-collected epidemiological, clinical and microbiological data for cases of the disease.

A summary of listeriosis surveillance data for 2019, Listeriosis in England and Wales: Summary for 2019, has been published; the key findings are as follows:

incidence rates of listeriosis were highest in people aged 80 years and over
overall, the crude incidence of listeriosis was lower in men than women, but reported cases among men aged 60 to 69 were 7 times higher than in women aged 60 to 69
pregnancy-associated infections accounted for 17.6% of all reported cases and a third of pregnancy-associated cases resulted in stillbirth or miscarriage
among non-pregnancy cases of listeriosis, death was reported for 23 cases (19.7%), of whom 15 (12.8%) were known to have listeriosis recorded as a cause of death on the death certificate
incidence of listeriosis varied geographically, with the lowest incidence in East of England (0.14 per 100,000 population) and the highest in London (0.39 per 100,0000 population)

As a predominantly foodborne infection, listeriosis is largely preventable. It remains imperative that sporadic cases of illness and clusters of disease continue to be monitored and investigated to inform the continued risk assessment of the food chain.

A peak in listeriosis cases in early 2019 was identified as a national outbreak that was investigated by PHE, leading to the publication of a detailed final report in November 2020. Whole genome sequencing analysis of isolates from patients and an implicated supplier of ready-to-eat (RTE) meals was critical in confirming the linkage of nationally dispersed cases to a common source. The findings from the investigation support previous recommendations for supplying and serving RTE meals safely in hospitals.