Surveillance of Listeria monocytogenes as an emerging public health threat in Domestic Animals and Human in Egypt

Abstract

The present study will involve conducting surveillance for a zoonotic bacterial agent, Listeria monocytogenes in domestic animals and human in Egypt. The aim was to help in recording much more data concerning such disease and determining the most likely sources of Listeriosis infecting humans and the distribution of the various serotypes in the region. This information is important in order to optimize and determine appropriate intervention strategies and management of Listeriosis cases in animals especially ruminants and rabbits livestock. The results revealed that the occurrence of L. monocytogenes in the examined animal samples was 1.5 % (9/620) with high incidence in cows 1.3% (4/300) and in human acute blood samples was 0.8% (2/250). Most of the recovered isolates (72.7 %) showed high incidence of L. monocytogenes serotype 4 (8/11). Antibiogram was done for the recovered isolates and showed high resistance patterns for phenicols, polypeptides, cephalosporines and lincosamides. Genotypic analysis for the recovered isolates was carried out by using PCR with specific nucleotides sequence for prfA genes followed by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. This analysis revealed that cows act as natural niches for that emerging pathogen.