Listeriosis outbreak associated with the consumption of rillettes in France in 1993

J Infect Dis. 1998 Jan;177(1):155-60. doi: 10.1086/513814.

Abstract

An outbreak of listeriosis involving 38 patients occurred in France between 18 June and 5 October 1993. The epidemic clone was characterized by serovar 4b, phagovar 2671:108:312, and DNA macrorestriction patterns 12 and 13. Thirty-one case-patients were materno-neonatal patients and 7 patients were nonpregnant adults. Preliminary analysis of a case-control study implicated a pork product, rillettes, of a particular brand (odds ratio, 18; 95% confidence interval, 2.2-208) as the vehicle of infection. Rillettes is a ready-to-eat food prepared with ham meat cooked with grease. The implicated lots of rillettes were recalled in mid-August, and the French authorities issued a warning to the general public. Microbiologic analysis of unopened plastic cans of rillettes confirmed the results of the case-control study 3 weeks after the recall. Final analysis showed that the rillettes was the major vehicle of the outbreak but suggested that other brand A meat products could also have been involved.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Case-Control Studies
  • DNA, Bacterial / analysis
  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Female
  • Food Handling / methods
  • Food Microbiology
  • France / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Listeria / genetics
  • Listeriosis / epidemiology*
  • Male
  • Meat Products / microbiology
  • Meat-Packing Industry
  • Middle Aged
  • Molecular Epidemiology
  • Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
  • Pregnancy

Substances

  • DNA, Bacterial