Are people swallowing Listeria germs with food everyday? Listerene[mouthwash] will cleanse LISTERIA germs?

Question

Are germs ,listeria, in mouths?

Answer 1

Listerine and Listeria were both named after Joseph Lister, the man who first began to promote the ideas of cleanliness and sterility in hospitals and surgeries.  There's no connection between the mouthwash and the bacterium.

These are some of the foods that cause Listeria outbreaks: hot dogs, deli meats, raw milk, cheeses (particularly soft-ripened cheeses like feta, Brie, Camembert, blue-veined, or Mexican-style “queso blanco”), raw and cooked poultry, raw meats, ice cream, raw vegetables, raw and smoked fish and the green lip mussel.

Preventing the spread of Listeria depends on the cooks keeping their food prep surfaces cleaned.  Alcohol will kill the bacterium that is left on kitchen surfaces.

Answer 2

Listeria is an infectious bacteria that affects the GI tract.  It is typically spread from the fecal-oral route, and sometimes on contaminated food (which is occurring now in Canada).  For healthy people it causes a diarrheal illness which can be treated by antibiotics.  For newborns/elderly/people with immune problems, it can cause a life threatening infection and kill.

Listerine is a mouthwash aimed at cleaning organisms colonizing the mouth.  It won't clean listeria as this is usually ingested.

What's the link between these two? They're named after...

Joseph Lister - a 1900's doctor who found that cleaning instruments/hands decreased the spread of disease.