Laboratory-based surveillance of invasive listeriosis in Northern Italy over a fourteen-year period: epidemiological and clinical results

Introduction: Invasive listeriosis is a rare foodborne disease with a significant impact on public health worldwide, because of the severity of its clinical manifestations and high fatality rate. In this study, we provide a snapshot of epidemiology of listeriosis in Lombardy Region, Northern Italy, reviewing enhanced surveillance data collected over fourteen years, after the implementation of a voluntary laboratory-based surveillance system for the referral of clinical isolates of Listeria monocytogenes to a regional reference laboratory, since 2005.

Methods: Invasive listeriosis cases data from 2005 to 2018 were extracted from the regional laboratory-based surveillance system database and compared with the regional mandatory notification disease system data.

Results: Over the fourteen-year period under study, 533 Listeria monocytogenes isolates were detected by the laboratory surveillance system, 55 of which from pregnancy-related cases. The median age of non-pregnancy-associated patients was 71 years, with 64.6% of cases observed in the elderly. Cases with underlying medical risk conditions accounted for 92.1%, and the fatality rate was 26.2%. By integrating data from the mandatory notification system and the laboratory-based surveillance system, a total of 935 cases were recorded. The collection of data through the laboratory surveillance system allowed to increase the surveillance sensitivity by 18%.

Conclusions: Our results documented the growing epidemiological relevance of listeriosis through the analysis of two information sources, the regional mandatory notification system and the regional laboratory-based surveillance system. The data we obtained were consistent with the literature, except for pregnancy-related cases, which are often underdiagnosed. This study highlighted the importance of laboratory-based surveillance system, which led to a significant increase in the sensitivity of the mandatory notification system.