Update: Multinational listeriosis outbreak due to 'Quargel', a sour milk curd cheese, caused by two different L. monocytogenes serotype 1/2a strains, 2009-2010

R Fretz; J Pichler; U Sagel; P Much; W Ruppitsch; A T Pietzka; A Stöger; S Huhulescu; S Heuberger; G Appl; D Werber; K Stark; R Prager; A Flieger; R Karpísková; G Pfaff; F Allerberger

Update: Multinational listeriosis outbreak due to 'Quargel', a sour milk curd cheese, caused by two different L. monocytogenes serotype 1/2a strains, 2009-2010

Euro Surveill. 2010 Apr 22;15(16):19543.

Authors

R Fretz¹, J Pichler, U Sagel, P Much, W Ruppitsch, A T Pietzka, A Stöger, S Huhulescu, S Heuberger, G Appl, D Werber, K Stark, R Prager, A Flieger, R Karpísková, G Pfaff, F Allerberger

Affiliation

¹ Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Vienna, Austria. rainer.fretz@ages.at

PMID: 20430003

Abstract

We previously reported an outbreak of listeriosis in Austria and Germany due to consumption of Quargel cheese. It comprised 14 cases (including five fatalities) infected by a serotype 1/2a Listeria monocytogenes (clone 1), with onset of illness from June 2009 to January 2010. A second strain of L. monocytogenes serotype 1/2a (clone 2) spread by this product could be linked to further 13 cases in Austria (two fatal), six in Germany (one fatal) and one case in the Czech Republic, with onset of disease from December 2009 to end of February 2010.

MeSH terms

Cheese / microbiology*
Commerce
Disease Outbreaks / statistics & numerical data*
Europe / epidemiology
Female
Food Contamination / statistics & numerical data*
Foodborne Diseases / epidemiology*
Foodborne Diseases / microbiology
Humans
Incidence
Listeria monocytogenes / classification*
Listeria monocytogenes / isolation & purification
Listeriosis / epidemiology*
Listeriosis / microbiology
Male
Norovirus / isolation & purification
Population Surveillance
Risk Assessment / methods
Risk Factors
Serotyping
Species Specificity