TY - GEN T1 - Large Listeriosis Outbreak Linked to Cheese Made from Pasteurized Milk, Germany, 2006ā€“2007 AU - Koch, Judith AU - Dworak, Regine AU - Prager, Rita AU - Becker, Biserka AU - Brockmann, Stefan AU - Wicke, Amal AU - Wichmann-Schauer, Heidi AU - Hof, Herbert AU - Werber, Dirk AU - Stark, Klaus AB - A commercial cheese (acid curd) made from pasteurized milk caused a large listeriosis outbreak in Germany from October 2006 through February 2007. The Listeria monocytogenes outbreak strain was identified in humans and in cheese samples from a patient's home and from the production plant. During the outbreak period, 189 patients were affected, which was 97% above the mean case number for the respective time period of the years 2002 to 2005. Of patients with available detailed information on cheese consumption (nā€‰=ā€‰47), 70% reported to have consumed the incriminated cheese product. Recent European food safety alerts due to Listeria-contaminated cheeses more often concerned products made from pasteurized or heat-treated milk than from raw milk. The findings should be considered in prevention guidelines addressing vulnerable populations. KW - Aged KW - Humans KW - Female KW - Disease Outbreaks KW - Germany/epidemiology KW - Animals KW - Food Microbiology KW - Food Contamination KW - Cheese/microbiology KW - Milk/microbiology KW - Listeria monocytogenes/isolation & purification KW - Listeriosis/epidemiology KW - Food Handling KW - Food Safety KW - 610 Medizin PY - 2010 LA - eng PB - Robert Koch-Institut, Infektionsepidemiologie VL - 7 IS - 12 DO - 10.1089/fpd.2010.0631 ER -