FD6 PBL Flashcards
(86 cards)
Describe the properties of Listeria monocytogenes
- small
- motile
- gram +ve
- nonsporeforming
- extremely resistant
- diphtheroid coccobacillus
- grows under a wide temp range (4-44 degrees)
- Ubiquitous saprophyte- lives in plant soil enviro
Why is its ability to grow at 4 degrees important?
- important diagnostic aid
- cold enrichment method - isolation of the organism from brain tissue but not from placental or fetal tissues
What are the natural reservoirs of L.monocytogenes?
- soil
- mammalian GI tracts
- both contaminate vegetation
How does animal-animal transmission of Listeria occur?
- via fecal-oral route
- through abrasions in the buccal cavity (dry pasture)
When is Listeria most prominent?
- primarily a winter-spring disease of feedlot/ housed ruminants
When do outbreaks of Listeria normally occur after feeding poor-quality silage
- over 10 days after
- (4-6 weeks)
Which animals to L.monocytogenes affect?
- sheep
- cattle
- humans
What is the incubation period of Listeria?
- 3-70 days
What is this? and why

- Listeria
- small, gram +ve rods
- sometimes arranged in short chains
- can be mistaken for strepococci
Which temp is lethal to L.monocytogenes?
50 degrees
What pH range will Listeria grow in?
- pH 4-9.6
Does Listeria grow better in aerobic or anaerobic conditions?
- anaerobic
What is the relationship between silage and Listeria?
- listeria can survive up to 3 months in livestock manure
- silage may become a source of infection if soil containing Listeria is included
- improperly prepared silage (pH >5.4), prelonged, slow exposure to air (secondary fermentation)- allows organism to multiply
- high levels of iron
- poorly stored silage can be contaminated with vermin
- close grazing with soil ingestion also can be a cause
What is the best way to prevent silage becoming a source of Listeria infection?
- well compacted silage
- cover immediatley after harvest
- well wrapped
- produce intensively fermented silages and store for over 30 days
- acid additive to wet silages
Why are the advantages of feeding silage?
- faster forage preserving methods
- high quality
- lower loss when harvesting, storing and feeding
- inexpensive to store
- wide seasonal harvesting window
- doesnt need to be fed fresh
- cheaper
How does Listeria reach the brain?
- L.monocytogenes travel by way of circulating blood,
- enters nerve fibres, primarily trigeminal nerve/ facial nerve and is transported to the brain stem
- the nuclei 5th and 7th are in the caudal brain stem
What can Listeria cause in general?
- septicemia
- abortion
- latent infection
What are the clinical signs in animals with Listeria?
- initially:
- anorectic
- depressed
- dioriented
- propel themselves into corners
- lean against walls
- circling toward affected side
- facial paralysis, drooping ear
- deviated muzzle
- flaccid lip
- lack of menace response
- continous salivation
- paralysis of masticatory muscle
- terminally affected animals:
- recumbancy and death
What is the recovery rate in goats/ sheep?
- 30% with prompt, aggressive therapy
Recovery rate of Listeria in cattle?
- 50%
When do Listeric abortions occur?
- last trimester without premonitory signs
- fetuses normally die in utero
- rate may reach 20% in flocks
How long can Listeria be shed in milk/ via vagina?
- > 1 month
Where do Listeria infections acquired via ingestion tend to localize?
- in intestinal wall
- results in prolonged fecal excretion
Describe the virulence and infectivity of Listeria
- L.monocytogenes ingested
- may survive the stomach enviro and enter intestine where it penetrates the intestinal ep cells
- the organism is taken up by macrophages and non-phagocytic cells
- L.monocytogenes surface protein interalin required for the uptake by non-phagocytic cells (binds to receptors on host cells)
- bacterium initially located in vacuole after uptake
- L.monocytogenes secrete listeriolysin O protein (breaks down vacuole wall and enables bacteria to escape into cytoplasm)
- L.monocytogenes replicate in cytoplasm
- then transported around the body by blood, most being inactivated with reaching liver/ spleen
- L.monocytogenes able to utilise actin molecules of the host to propel the bacteria into neighbouring host cells
- cross blood-brain barrier and placental barrier



