Symptoms of Listeria in pregnancy and its Treatment
Listeria is bacteria mostly present in soil and it is often found in water. The bacteria can also be seen in animals like cattle and poultry. It can also contaminate raw milk and products made from raw milk. It can also grow in plants that process food and can also infect a variety of processed meats. Listeria is different from many other bacteria and germs because unlike others, it can develop in very high cold temperature as of refrigerator. One of the ways to kill it can be cooking and pasteurization.
What is Listeria or Listeriosis?
Listeriosis is a type of food poisoning caused by eating foods that is contaminated by the Listeria bacteria whose species is commonly named as monocytogenes. It can be a real harm to body. The disease mainly affects the pregnant women, newborns, elders, and adults suffering from impaired immune systems. In pregnant women, the infections can result in miscarriage, premature delivery. It may also show the effects on the newly born baby by serious infections or, stillbirth. Also if mothers at the time of pregnancy eat contaminated food, it can result in serious illness in the new born baby. Healthy may also sometimes become prone to the disease, but they can manage with it and rarely become seriously ill.
Listeriosis is a serious disease in humans which cannot be taken lightly. From many surveys it has been found that the overt form of the disease has a case-fatality rate of about 20%.
Affects of Listeriosis on Pregnancy
Listeria mainly infects a person if he is suffering from some diseases that can harm the immune system otherwise it rarely affects the health. But during pregnancy some aspects of immune functioning are suppressed, which makes a pregnant lady more vulnerable to many range of infections and one of them is Listeriosis. It may not always make the women seriously ill, but can have grave consequences on the developing baby if the disease is not cured on time.
Untreated Listeriosis can lead to the following adverse effects:
• Miscarriage – Listeria can infect the placenta, the amniotic fluid and this may infect the baby as it does not allow the embryo to develop properly. This may lead to miscarriage.
• Premature Birth – The infected mothers lead to premature birth of their babies. The infected prematurely born babies are mostly born with severe illness. Or it may be possible that they get ill soon. They have problems like blood infection, or can suffer with fever or skin sores. They may even have problem in breathing. It can also lead to meningitis.
• Late-onset Listeriosis – This usually occurs one to two weeks after birth and infects the infants. The most disease likely to occur is meningitis. Some other diseases that can occur are bacteremia and pneumonia.
• Early-onset Listeriosis – This problem occurs most probably within one week of delivery. The new borne affected may suffer from eye infection or sores on the skin. One harmful effect can be granulomatosis infantisepticum. This is a serious form of infection that may occur, infecting skin and internal organs like liver spleen etc.
There are many long lasting effects of Listeriosis which may even sometimes unfortunately led to death of babies.
Signs and Symptoms of Listeria in Pregnancy:
The most common symptoms of Listeria include fever, pain in muscles, nausea and sometimes diarrhoea as well as some other gastrointestinal symptoms. If not treated on time, the infection may spread to nervous system and it can show the signs of head ache, stiff neck, or sometimes convulsions can also occur.
In case of pregnant women, the signs are a little bit different. Infected pregnant women can experience mild flu like illness. These symptoms may not be appearing instantly sometimes, but may show their effects several weeks later.
Most common symptoms seen during pregnancy are:
• Women can experience mild fever.
• There can be other non specific symptoms like fatigues and aches.
• There can be some gastrointestinal symptoms or back pain.
• It can sometimes cause a feeling of irritability or vomiting
It is always said that prevention is better than cure and hence, as a person notices these symptoms in a pregnant women, must immediately consult a doctor to be on the safer side.
Diagnosis of Listeria in Pregnancy:
Listeriosis can be most commonly found in immunocompromised patients and especially those suffering from HIV aids, newborn babies, infants, elderly patients, or pregnant women. These people may show sign of diseases like meningitis or other gastroenteritis.
The various diagnostic methods of disease are
• Samples – The doctor can confirm the disease by taking sample from the blood, cerebrospinal fluid, amniotic fluid, or placental tissue. On these samples Listeria bacteria can be diagnosed. These organisms grow easily on culture media in less than 30 hours.
• MRI- Another method of diagnosing Listeria is the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). It may reveal several symptoms or signs of infection in the central nervous system.
• Urine samples – Urine samples and spinal fluid may also be used for testing the disease.
• Treatment of Listeria in Pregnancy:
Listeriosis is not such a big issue in case of normal people. This means that majority of people can improve and be cured without need of any medical care. But in case of pregnant women, special treatment is required to safeguard her and her baby from further illness and harmful consequences. Normally, the antibiotics can help in getting rid of the infection. The best drug of the current time called as ampicillin is considered to be a short term remedy for the illness.
The major treatment methods to be followed during pregnancy are:
• At initial stages Listeria can be treated by antibiotics. But women experiencing fever for more than a month must consult a doctor immediately.
• Ultrasounds can be done to check the growth of the foetus in the body and ultimately leading to methods to cure the infections, if it hinders the growth.
• For a severe infection, gentamicin can be used for treatment.
• Prevention of Listeria in Pregnancy
It is always advisable to be careful enough to avoid the diseases and during pregnancy, it is of utmost importance to keep an eye on this. Some measures that must be strictly followed to prevent Listeria are:
• Thorough cooking of food: All the food should be cooked to a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit to kill all the bacteria inside the food. It is always advised that fish should be cooked till the flesh in the middle does not become opaque.
• Avoid eating cold food: Always avoid eating leftover food because it is highly prone to infections.
• Avoid unpasteurized milk: Cow’s and goat’s milk should not be directly used without boiling.
• Wash products before use: Wash all the fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating them.
• Clean dishes regularly: It is always advisable that the utensils and dishes must be properly washed after and before the use of them. Use a clean dishtowel to clean the dishes.
Keeping all these things in mind can keep pregnant women away from Listeriosis