Review requested by the Food Standards Agency to understand AMR of Listeria monocytogenes in the food chain from studies published between 2020 and 2024.

Documents

Literature review: a review of AMR in Listeria monocytogenes and other Listeria spp. in the food chain: 5-year review, 2020 to 2024

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Listeria monocytogenes is associated with a high case fatality rate, as diagnosis can be difficult to ascertain, due to it’s relatively long incubation phase and wide variety of symptoms. Invasive listeriosis is treated using antimicrobial therapy, but it is unclear what the pattern of drug resistance is in Listeria and whether there is any evidence that this is increasing.

As listeriosis is caused by ingestion of food, a literature review - focusing on peer review publications concerning isolates from the food chain - was performed to identify whether there has been any recent increase of resistance to the more therapeutically significant antimicrobial groups, namely penicillins, aminoglycosides, carbapenems and SXT.

Publications between January 2020 and December 2024 were included and represented all 6 World Health Organization (WHO) regions and all major food categories.

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