Listeria monocytogenes

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Listeria monocytogenes

• By Christine Dolin

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Metabolism

• Aerobic
• All I could find was that its a
  chemoorganotroph which Im guessing means
  chemoheterotroph
• Listeria monocytogenes resides in many birds and
  in the intestinal tracts of humans, as well as
  other mammals
• Forms colonies in blood

Habitat
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Basic Information

• Family Listeriaceae, order bacillales
• Adaptations uses flagella to move
• Grows in short chains

Electron micrograph of a flagellated Listeria
monocytogenes bacterium, Magnified 41,250X 
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• It rapidly divides in the cytoplasm of the host
  cell, causes protrusions in the host cell that
  enable the bacteria to travel to other nearby
  cells
• Rod-shaped or coccoid
• Gram-positive
• Endotoxin

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Impact on the Environment

• Listeria monocytogenes can infect food and if
  consumed will cause meningitis, encephalitis, or
  intrauterine infections
• It is especially an issue for pregnant women, the
  elderly, or people with poor immune systems

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Wow Facts

• The Center for Disease Control estimates that
  2,500 people will become seriously ill with
  listerosis each year, and 500 of these people
  will die from it
• Listeria monocytogenes is estimated to be carried
  in the intestinal tract of 5-10 of the human
  population without any disease symptoms
• Can replicate at 4 degrees C, so it can replicate
  even in refrigerated foods
• Mortality rate for infected people is 20-30

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Sources

• http//images.google.com/imgres?imgurlhttp//feww
  .files.wordpress.com/2010/01/listeria-monocytogene
  s.jpgimgrefurlhttp//feww.wordpress.com/2010/01/
  22/listeria-suspected-cheese-recalled/usg__1bTW3
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• http//www.sixwise.com/newsletters/06/05/31/6-type
  s-of-very-common-toxic-bacteria-you-need-to-avoid-
  and-where-theyre-typically-found.htm
• http//www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety/foodborneillnes
  s/foodborneillnessfoodbornepathogensnaturaltoxins/
  badbugbook/ucm070064.htm
• http//www.textbookofbacteriology.net/Listeria.htm
  l
• http//emedicine.medscape.com/article/220684-overv
  iew
• pathmicro.med.sc.edu/ghaffar/zoonoses.htm
• http//xbase.bham.ac.uk/colibase/phenotype.pl?sear
  chFacultative