Listeriosis historical perspective
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: João André Alves Silva, M.D. [2]
Overview
Listeria monocytogenes (formerly Bacterium monocytogenes) was isolated in 1926 by Everitt Murray and renamed Listeria monocytogenes in 1940 after Joseph Lister in honor of his discovery of sterilization to prevent surgical infection.
Historical Perspective
There is evidence that Listeria monocytogenes had been identified in histologic sections, before World War I, in Sweden by Hulphers. However, since no cultures were preserved, this is considered a supposition. In 1926, Listeria monocytogenes was first isolated from rabbits, following an outbreak in laboratory animals, by the bacteriologist Everitt George Dunne Murray who named it Bacterium monocytogenes. This is the oldest well preserved culture of the bacteria, which is kept at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. During the following years Listeria was mostly found among domestic animals, being responsible for different outbreaks around the world.
In 1929, human cases were reported in Denmark by Nyfeldt. At the time he associated infectious mononucleosis to listeriosis, claiming that the bacteria was the causative agent of infectious mononucleosis. However, this hypothesis was not proved, and subsequently the bacteria was not very emphasized.
It was later renamed Listerlla monocytogenes and finally Listeria monocytogenes in 1940 to honor Joseph Lister, the British scientist who discovered that sterilizing surgical instruments before operations greatly reduced the chances of infection.[1] Unlike other microorganisms causing gastroenteritis, such as Shigella and Yersinia, Listeria was given a different name than its discoverer.
In 1949, Dr. Stanley extracted and described the "monocytosis producing-agent" from this microorganism. With this, he started a method that allowed to obtain large amount of monocytes, from peritoneal washings in mice.
In 1934, Burn established a connection between Listeria monocytogenes and neonatal granulomatous septicemia. Nonetheless, the discovery was soon forgotten. Only a few years later, Reiss, Potel and Krebs published a paper about the relation between granulomatosis infantiseptica and Corynebacterium infantisepticum, which would later be recognized as Listeria monocytogenes by Seeliger.
Based on reports from different pathologists , such as Hayem (1891) and Fraenkel (1924), listeriosis might have been observed even before Hulphers. By the time it would be named "neonatal septicemia" or "pseudotuberculosis.
Notes
- Murray, E.G.D., R. A. Webb, and M.B.R. Swann. 1926. A disease of rabbits characterized by a large mononuclear leucocytosis, caused by a hitherto undescribed bacillus Bacterium monocytogenes. J. Pathol. Bacteriol. 29:407-39
References
- ↑ "Obituary Notice. E. G. D. Murray, 1890-1964". Journal of General Microbiology. 46 (1): 1–21. 1967. doi:10.1099/00221287-46-1-1. ISSN 0022-1287.