Before the listeriosis outbreak

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently warned Nigeria and 15 other African countries of a listeriosis outbreak that started in South Africa in 2017. The other African countries are Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Listeriosis is a bacterial infection most […]

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently warned Nigeria and 15 other African countries of a listeriosis outbreak that started in South Africa in 2017. The other African countries are Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Listeriosis is a bacterial infection most commonly caused by Listeria monocytogenes. It can cause severe illness including severe sepsis, meningitis or encephalitis, sometimes resulting in lifelong harm and even death. Listeria is ubiquitous and is primarily transmitted via the oral route after ingestion of contaminated food products. 

According to WHO, nearly 200 South Africans have died since January 2017 as a result of contaminated ready-to-eat meat products that are widely consumed in the country and may also have been exported to two West African countries, namely Nigeria and Ghana, and 14 members of the South African Development Community. Further cases are likely to occur in light of the potentially long incubation period of listeriosis and the challenges relating to large scale recall process. 

South African health authorities recently declared the source of the outbreak as a factory in Polokwane in the country’s northeast. This prompted a national and international recall of the food products. Whole genome sequencing of isolated strains of the Listeria bacteria was used to make the link between the contaminated products, the producing company and strains of Listeria isolated from the patients.

Though WHO is working with some African countries including Nigeria to improve their ability to prepare for, detect and respond to potential outbreaks, we advise the Federal Ministry of Health and relevant agencies to be up and doing to curb the epidemic and they should not wait until the last minute to respond to the possible outbreak. We believe this sweeping plague is a wake-up call for Nigeria and other countries in the region to strengthen their national food safety and disease surveillance systems. 

Already, South Africa had hosted a meeting of SADC health ministers to address regional preparedness and response to listeriosis. Although the problem is more widespread in South Africa, there are fears that the epidemic would creep into our shores if adequate measures are not taken. The Nigeria health authorities should do everything possible to strengthen the country’s food safety systems by identifying products that are the sources of infection. Currently, there are many in Nigeria who crave and consume processed meats and corned beef from stores and other confectionary stores who import their processed meat from South Africa. Worse still, for every brand of consumer products made whether in Nigeria, Asia or European countries, South Africa has a version of it. 

We recommend that the federal government should take appropriate measures to prevent the importation of hazardous product by intensifying surveillance at our ports and airports. NAFDAC should strengthen their inspection at shops and warehouses across the country to check and cull products that are identified as likely sources of infection.

Immediate steps to prevent the plague include increasing awareness on listeriosis, enhancing active surveillance and laboratory diagnosis, ensuring readiness of Rapid Response Teams and strengthening coordination and contingency planning. In recent years alone we have had to battle with health care emergencies ranging from Ebola to meningitis to Lassa fever. Supposedly our medical personnel and health care administrators have gained a lot of experience in dealing with such emergencies, even though a new disease appears to pop up in our midst every now and then.

The most important lesson gained from these emergencies is that we should never let our guards down. We should put personnel on standby, intensify monitoring, stock up on medicines and dressings, designate some emergency centres and update our knowledge of impending disease epidemics. That way we could avoid the worst.