Florida is having a Listeria monocytogenes (pictured here) outbreak. Add this to Florida’s current … [+]
What’s all the Listeria about in Florida? An outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections has already left at least 23 people sick, five of them while pregnant. It’s resulted in 22 hospitalizations, one death, and one fetal loss across 10 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And at least 20 of the cases have either lived in or traveled to Florida in the month prior to their getting sick as the following CDC tweet showed:
Twelve of the cases have been reported in the Sunshine State
Add this to Florida’s current meningococcal disease outbreak, their at least 41 monkeypox cases, and their current Covid-19 upswing that has added to their having the third most Covid-19 cases of all 50 U.S. states during the pandemic. Florida now has multiple infectious disease issues on their hands as well as other parts of their body.
The specific culprit has yet to be identified. It’s not as if just being in Florida can give you a Listeria infection. Listeria doesn’t travel through the air either, unless it’s a contaminated food item like sausage being delivered by a drone right into your mouth. Instead, Listeria infections typically result when you put the bacteria where your mouth is. Once the bacteria does down your hatch it may or may not end up giving you symptoms.
If you do develop symptoms, they tend to emerge within two weeks after you’ve ingested the bacteria. Such symptoms may consist of a fever and muscle aches as well as gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea. As I have covered before for Forbes, bigger problems can result in invasive listeriosis when the bacteria goes beyond a gut feeling. It can get into your bloodstream and your central nervous system, resulting in life-threatening problems. That’s why symptoms such as a headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, or convulsions should prompt a visit to the doctor as soon as possible. If you are pregnant, a Listeria infection can result in a miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or bad stuff for the newborn.
So if you’ve been to Florida recently and have been having some combination of the above symptoms, you may want to contact your doctor, especially if you have a weaker immune system. Some of these symptoms such as a stiff neck can be signs of an emergency like meningitis, assuming that you aren’t wearing a very tight metal turtle neck sweater. So far, the earliest reported case started on January 24, 2021 and the latest on June 12, 2022. Those who have gotten sick have ranged from less than one year to 92 years of age. The median age has been 72 years old.
Right now authorities are trying to determine what food items may have been responsible for this outbreak. Without a more specific source, it would be difficult to tell everyone as a precautions to not eat anything if you are in Florida.
