ABSTRACT

I. BACKGROUND Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), the causative agent of human and animal listeriosis, has become one of the most studied microorganisms in the last 20 years. Although the organism was reported as early as 1891, Murray first described this organism as a causative agent for animal disease in 1926. Since the pathogen caused monocytosis as one of the symptoms, the organism was named Bacterium monocytogenes and later changed to Listerella monocytogenes in honor of Lord Lister. The name Listeria monocytogenes was finally accepted in 1940. The first reported isolation of the predecessors of Listeria goes back to 1929. However, interest in this organism rapidly grew following a series of foodborne outbreaks in the 1980s. The high mortality rate involved in these outbreaks has drawn the attention of people involved in food safety. A tremendous amount of knowledge has been accumulated in the area of listeriosis and about the organism Lm. Several in-depth reviews on Listeria and listeriosis have been published in the last 10 years (1-4). The current article is intended to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive account of human listeriosis and its causative agent Lm. Because of space limitation, wherever possible, individual references have been replaced by an appropriate review article. For specific in-depth information, readers are advised to consult individual references, including review articles.