Raw milk products Already four babies with severe germ infections

Already four children born with severe Listeria infection
The Baden-Württemberg Land Health Office advises pregnant women to refrain from certain foods such as raw milk products. Four children with severe germ infections have already been born in the southwest German federal state. Two babies died.
Expectant mothers should refrain from raw milk products
Since the beginning of the year, four babies with a severe Listeria infection have been born in Baden-Württemberg, two of the children died. As reported by the Stuttgart regional council, more newborns are already suffering from listeriosis in the first two months of the year than in most of the years since 2001. The regional health office in the regional council therefore recommends expectant mothers, raw milk products, raw sausages, smoked fish and vacuum-packed products until birth ready-to-eat products.

Recall of raw milk cheese. Image: BillionPhotos.com-fotolia

Bacteria can also multiply in the refrigerator
Even salads, fruits and vegetables can be contaminated with Listeria. The best precaution is to thoroughly wash off fresh salads and peel fruits and vegetables. Listeria are insensitive to cold and can multiply even at refrigerator temperatures. Food, especially vacuum-packed food, should be consumed as soon as possible after purchase and before expiry of the specified shelf life, experts from Baden-Württemberg advise.

Some foods especially affected
Listeria are basically bacteria that are present everywhere in our environment and can occur in all raw foods. Particularly affected are meat, poultry, fish, seafood and raw milk products, but even with heated products such as scalded sausage can be a subsequent contamination. If such germs are found in food, a recall of the product concerned usually takes place. For example, recently "Coastal Gold" smoked salmon had been recalled for bacterial contamination.

Severe disease progression in infected unborn children
For healthy people, the pathogens are usually no danger, so infection (listeriosis) is usually harmless. But at risk are infants, toddlers, elderly and immunocompromised people, such as newly-operated, people suffering from diabetes, cancer patients or people with AIDS. Listeria, among other things, can cause meningitis (meningitis) or blood poisoning (sepsis) in these at-risk groups, according to health experts. In healthy adults, however, infection tends to be harmless. Most of the time it remains with mild symptoms that resemble those of a flu. This includes fever, diarrhea, abdominal pain, body aches and headaches. Even with the expectant mothers themselves, the disease is usually mild or even without symptoms. But in infected unborn children can be severe disease progression to the stillbirth. Pregnant women should therefore always consult a doctor for symptoms such as fever and chills. (Ad)