National Listeria Surveillance

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Listeria Initiative
FoodNet and Listeria
Surveillance Summaries and Report Forms

Listeria Initiative

Listeriosis (infection with Listeria monocytogenes) was added to the list of nationally notifiable diseases in 2001. To improve surveillance [PDF – 3 pages], the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists has recommended that all L. monocytogenes isolates be forwarded to state public health laboratories for subtyping through the National Molecular Subtyping Network for Foodborne Disease Surveillance (PulseNet).

All states have regulations requiring health care providers to report cases of listeriosis, and public health officials to interview all persons with listeriosis promptly using a standard questionnaire about high risk foods. The Listeria Initiative [PDF – 2 pages] is an enhanced surveillance system that aids in investigations of listeriosis outbreaks and clusters. States participating in the Listeria Initiative conduct prompt interviews of patients using the Listeria case report form (print-only) [PDF – 17 pages], a standardized questionnaire developed to collect detailed information about food exposures.

When PulseNet, identifies a cluster of Listeria monocytogenes patient isolates with the same molecular pattern, epidemiologists can conduct a preliminary case-case analysis by comparing esponses to food exposures reported on the Listeria case report form (print-only) [PDF – 17 pages] from patients in the cluster to those from patients outside the cluster. More about Listeria