Pathogenesis of listeriosis during pregnancy

摘要

Listeria monocytogenes causes several clinical manifestations in humans and domestic animals.This bacterium is a saprophyte in soil and ensiled feeds, which are sources of infection for foodproducing animals (i.e. ruminants). The most common route of infection for people is viaingestion of contaminated ready-to-eat food products such as produce, soft cheeses and delimeats. In the United States, L. monocytogenes causes relatively few cases of clinical diseasecompared to other food-borne pathogens. However, clinical listeriosis is associated with highmortality, especially in immunocompromised patients, pregnant women, neonates, and theelderly. Listeria is an intracellular pathogen, which has been widely used in basic research toelucidate mechanisms of molecular pathogenesis and protective cell-mediated immunity.Despite the sizeable knowledge on L. monocytogenes pathogenesis, key points regardinglisteriosis during pregnancy and the perinatal period remain unknown. This review summarizeslisteriosis in humans and domestic animals during pregnancy, and animal models used to studythe pathogenesis and immune response to L. monocytogenes infection during these periods.