Large Multicountry Outbreak of Invasive Listeriosis by a Listeria monocytogenes ST394 Clone Linked to Smoked Rainbow Trout, 2020 to 2021
Sven Halbedel, Ida Sperle, Raskit Lachmann, Sylvia Kleta, Martin A. Fischer, Sabrina Wamp, Alexandra Holzer, Stefanie Lüth, Larissa Murr, Christin Freitag, Laura Espenhain, Roger Stephan, Ariane Pietzka, Susanne Schjørring, Guido V. Bloemberg, Mareike Wenning, Sascha Al Dahouk, Hendrik Wilking, Antje Flieger
Abstract
Listeriosis is a severe infectious disease in humans and characterized by an exceptionally high case fatality rate. The disease is transmitted through consumption of food contaminated by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Outbreaks of listeriosis often occur but can be recognized and stopped through implementation of whole-genome sequencing-based pathogen surveillance systems. We here describe the detection and management of a large listeriosis outbreak in Germany and three neighboring countries. This outbreak was caused by rainbow trout filet, which was contaminated by a L. monocytogenes clone belonging to sequence type ST394. This work further expands our knowledge on the genetic diversity and transmission routes of an important foodborne pathogen.