www.IndianJournals.com Members Copy, Not for Commercial Sale Downloaded From IP - 128.128.128.12 on dated 5-May-2017 Journal of Immunology and Immunopathology Vol. 19, No. 1, January-June, 2017: 1-9 DOI: 10.5958/0973-9149.2017.00001.6 1 IndianJournals.com A product of Diva Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. Food-Borne Listeriosis, An Upcoming Public Health Problem: A Review Shabu Shoukat 1 , Mudasir Ali 2 , Henna Wani 3 , Umer Ali 4 , Parveez Ahmad Para 5 and Subha Ganguly 6 * 1 Ph.D. Research Scholar, 2 Assistant Professor, Division of Veterinary Public Health, 3 Ph.D. Research Scholar, Division of Veterinary Pathology, 4 M.V.Sc. Scholar, Division of Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Kashmir, Jammu & Kashmir-190006, India 5 Assistant Professor, Department of Livestock Products Technology, 6 Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Arawali Veterinary College (Affiliated with Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner), N.H.-52 Jaipur Road, V.P.O. Bajor, Sikar-332001, Rajasthan, India *Corresponding author email id: ganguly38@gmail.com ABSTRACT Shoukat S, Ali M, Wani H, Ali U, Para PA and Ganguly S (2017). Food-borne listeriosis, an upcoming public health problem: A review. J. Immunol. Immunopathol. 19(1): 1-9. Listeriosis is an important bacterial zoonosis caused by the pathogenic species of the genus Listeria. The genus Listeria currently contains 17 species: L. aquatica, L. booriae, L. cornellensis, L. fleischmannii, L. floridensis, L. grandensis, L. grayi, L. innocua, L. ivanovii, L. marthii, L. monocytogenes, L. newyorkensis, L. riparia, L. rocourtiae, L. seeligeri, L. weihenstephanensis and L. welshimeri. L. dinitrificans, previously thought to be part of the Listeria genus, was reclassified into the new genus Jonesia, of which only L. monocytogenes and L. ivanovii are pathogenic. Recently, five more species have paved their way in this genus that is L. floridensis, L. aquatica, L. cornellensis, L. riparia and L. grandensis; however, these all are non-pathogenic. L. ivanovii, the other pathogenic species of genus Listeria, has been thought to be frequently associated with abortions in sheep and in cattle. Although L. ivanovii infection in humans is rare, there are reports of isolation from cases of AIDS and abortion. The remaining species are regarded as non-pathogenic. Out of these, L. monocytogenes is of major concern as it accounts for about 98% of human and 85% of animal listeriosis cases. Keywords: Clinical disease, Food-borne listeriosis, Infection, Non-pathogenic, Pathogenicity, Public health, Zoonosis INTRODUCTION Listeriosis is a serious invasive disease characterised by neural, visceral and reproductive clinical entities, leading to septicaemia, abortion, stillbirth, meningitis and meningoencephalitis (Bhunia, 2008; Sukhadeo and Trinad, 2009). Human beings get infection through handling newborn calves, infected material and also contaminated foodstuff at any point from source of production till it reaches to consumer (WHO, 1988). The disease has a worldwide distribution and is considered an important and emerging food-borne disease (WHO, 1988). History The causal agent of listeriosis was first isolated in 1926 from a natural disease of rabbits characterised by mononuclear leucocytosis and therefore, named Bacterium monocytogenes by Review Article