Tips and tricks to protect pregnancy from listeria

Listeriosis occurs almost exclusively in pregnant women, newborns, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems. Pregnant women are 18 times more likely to get listeriosis than other healthy adults. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the onset of Listeria spp. during pregnancy accounted for nearly 43% of total cases, and 14% occurred in late pregnancies. Pregnant women infected with Listeria spp. could be asymptomatic, but if they exhibit symptoms, they are mild, almost like influenza, such as fever, headache, diarrhea, myalgia, or other digestive-related symptoms, so can be easily misdiagnosed. It can develop at any time during pregnancy and can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature birth. In the fetus and newborn, the symptoms can be severe, such as respiratory distress, pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis. Approximately 20% of pregnancies with listeriosis will result in spontaneous abortion or stillbirth. The research aimed to summarize the evidence available regarding listeriosis in pregnancy and educate providers on prevention, clinical symptoms, sequelae, and appropriate treatment guidelines. A review was conducted using a search for articles about listeriosis and pregnancy from PubMed and Scopus, using the terms ”Listeria pregnancy guidelines”, “Listeria pregnancy”, “Maternal listeriosis,” and “Neonatal listeriosis”. The search included review articles, original research articles, and guidelines on diagnosis and management of listeriosis in pregnancy as well as the actual national antenatal care guidelines. The results of this research show that listeriosis in pregnancy can result in severe adverse maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes. Early diagnosis and treatment have been shown to improve fetal and neonatal outcomes; therefore, prevention with education and early diagnosis prompting treatment will improve overall outcomes. This research has contributed to the possible need to raise awareness among health providers, obstetricians, and reproductive women for the importance of prevention and early detection of Listeria monocitogenes before and during pregnancy. Listeriosis may cause serious consequences for the fetus and newborn. It requires obstetricians to think about the possibility of pregnancy-related Listeria in pregnant women with influenza-like symptoms and a high-risk diet history. Professional associations and governments may need to strengthen the surveillance for listeriosis to reduce the incidence rate. Additional cost-benefit analyses of routinely monitoring pregnant women are warranted to decrease illness load and ameliorate prognosis through prophylactic management. Prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment before and during early pregnancy to avoid complications are of great importance.