ABSTRACT
Acknowledgments ..........................................................................................................................303 References ......................................................................................................................................303
Listeria monocytogenes was ofcially discovered in 1924, when E. G. D. Murray isolated Grampositive rods from the blood of infected rabbits.1 This new agent was initially named Bacterium monocytogenes and the genus was renamed Listeria later by Pirie.2 The rst cases of human listeriosis were reported in 1929 in Denmark. However, from 1926 to 1950, the importance of L. monocytogenes as a life-threatening food-borne human pathogen was not realized. In a very important epidemiologic study, Seeliger3 gathered a collection of about 6000 Listeria isolates. By using specic antibodies directed against O-antigens (teichoic acids) and H-antigens (agella), more than 60% of the strains could be classied into distinct serovars (see chapter 5 for details). Notably, ca. 90% of the isolates deriving from human patients belong to either serovar 1 or 4. Later, L. monocytogenes could be distinguished from other Listeria species by biochemical methods.4 Nearly all strains of L. monocytogenes were shown to be pathogenic.
