Listeria in Pregnancy: How Dangerous is Listeriosis?

Listeria can become dangerous during pregnancy. You can read here which foods you should therefore avoid and how to prevent listeria.

Listeria is widespread and usually harmless for a healthy person. Many people do not even notice that they have been infected with Listeria, because a fit immune system fights the bacteria in no time at all. Unfortunately, this is different during pregnancy.

What are listeria?

Listeria are bacteria that occur worldwide and can be found in various foods. They are also very resistant, get by with very few nutrients and even survive in a vacuum. The temperatures in the freezer cannot harm them and they even multiply in the refrigerator. Only sufficient heating kills the listeria.

While a healthy person usually survives an infection completely unharmed and often without even noticing it, people with a significantly weakened immune system (HIV-infected persons, tumour patients, diabetics and pregnant women) can suffer serious symptoms such as blood poisoning and meningitis or even die.

Listeria in pregnancy

The good news is that even though the bacteria are everywhere, infections occur very rarely. But, because the symptoms are similar to those of influenza, the disease is often confused or not even noticed. During pregnancy, an infection with listeriosis is particularly dangerous because it can pass to the unborn child during birth or even already in the womb. If listeriosis is detected early enough, it is easily treatable with antibiotics and also provides good protection for the baby in the womb. However, if the listeria infection remains undetected and is not treated accordingly, the consequences can be fatal. In the worst case, the consequences can be fatal:

• A miscarriage or stillbirth or premature birth
• The condition of newborns is usually very bad: they are dazed and suffer mainly from shortness of breath, vomiting, cramps and numerous skin and mucous membrane ulcers, as they were defenceless against the bacteria without a functioning immune system.
• Newborns suffer from pneumonia, meningitis or blood poisoning (sepsis)
• More than half of the infected babies die within the first hours after birth.
• In the event of survival, mental developmental disorders can occur.

In some cases, infected babies may not see the infection immediately, sometimes weeks may pass before symptoms appear.

What symptoms can occur with listeriosis?

Unfortunately, infection with Listeria during pregnancy often occurs without any signs of disease. If symptoms do occur, they are usually diffuse and cannot be clearly attributed, such as flu-like symptoms, cystitis or premature labor. Detecting listeriosis is therefore the biggest hurdle.

How to protect yourself against Listeria in pregnancy

Listeria are very resistant bacteria that can survive practically anywhere in the environment. They are found in the soil, on plants, in sewage and in agriculture. Therefore, unwashed lettuce fertilized with contaminated feces is the number one carrier of the bacteria. To avoid infection, you should therefore take the following measures:

• Always wash vegetables and fruit well before you eat them.
• Heat meat and other raw products at over 60 degrees Celsius for at least two minutes to kill listeria.
• Before cooking, wash your hands.
• Do not store food that is not further processed together with meat or prepare it on the same work surface.
• Consume food as quickly as possible after shopping. This also applies to vacuum-packed, ready-to-eat food.
• Clean kitchen utensils thoroughly with hot water and washing-up liquid after use.

Some foods can also be the cause of listeriosis, so at best you should avoid them during pregnancy. These include:

• Raw milk and raw milk products
• Soft cheese
• Blue cheese
• Raw or semi-raw meat
• Raw or half raw fish
• Smoked salmon
• Pre-cut and washed salads
• Raw milk products
• Raw sausage products (Mett-, Teewurst, Salami, Cabanossi, Chorizo, Landjäger, Salami and Cervelat sausage).
• Cheese rind