Surface proteins and the pathogenic potential of Listeria monocytogenes (original) (raw)

Listeria monocytogenes is a ubiquitous Grampositive, rod-shaped, non-capsulated, nonsporulating, facultative intracellular bacterium that causes severe food-borne infections in humans and animals. Human listeriosis is characterized by a high mortality rate (>20%), and immunosuppressed individuals, pregnant women, foetuses and neonates are most susceptible to Listeria infections. Listeria disseminates from the intestine to the blood, the inner organs and eventually to the brain and foetoplacental unit after crossing the intestinal, the blood-brain and the foeto-placental barriers. In the infected host, Listeria is mostly intracellular owing to its capacity to survive within phagocytes and induce its phagocytosis by non-phagocytic cells.