Forum Calcionapoli

Joseph Lister, a British surgeon who created the sterile surgery model, knew that many diseases were caused by virulent bacteria. It seemed appropriate to the discoverers of the disease Listeria, to name it after such a fore-runner in this field of bacteria-related illness. Caused by the food and blood-borne pathogen lysteria monocytogenes, the effects of this attack on the body can be relatively mild or, in the worst case scenarios, lethal. At most risk are the newborn babies who may have contracted the disease transvaginally. The elderly and those with a compromised immune system are also threatened. In the United States alone, 2500 people will be treated for Listeria annually and another 500 will die. Fortunately, treatment with penicillin or a related drug is usually sufficient for a complete recovery.