3 Kansas hospital patients die of ice cream-related illness

[du_grad]

48. Resistance vs. vulnerability

Not sure you can have resistance per se to Listeria. You can certainly be more vulnerable to infection.

http://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/food-poisoning-resources/everything-you-never-wanted-to-know-about-listeria-but-need-to/#.VQUV6tLF99k

According to the CDC and other public health organizations, individuals at increased risk for being infected and becoming seriously ill with Listeria include the following groups:

Pregnant women: They are about 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to get listeriosis. About one-third of listeriosis cases happen during pregnancy.
Newborns: Newborns rather than the pregnant women themselves suffer the serious effects of infection in pregnancy.
Persons with weakened immune systems
Persons with cancer, diabetes, or kidney disease
Persons with AIDS: They are almost 300 times more likely to get listeriosis than people with normal immune systems.
Persons who take glucocorticosteroid medications (such as cortisone)
The elderly [11, 20, 21]

http://www.cdc.gov/listeria/

http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/listeria/

It is listed as the third leading cause of death from food poisoning.

At least 90% of people who get Listeria infections are either pregnant women and their newborns, people 65 or older, or people with weakened immune systems.

I am a clinical microbiology technologist with over 35 years of experience. This is not a pathogen we see often, but it is the one you always remember. I have seen three cases of meningitis and one of sepsis (organism in the blood stream) during my career. This is not a pathogen to be complacent about.