Does this sound like listeriosis to you?

Question

"Her face swelled like a balloon, liquids and pus seeped from her skin, and she was given several rounds of antibiotics...Sores and lesions opened up throughout her body and she became so gravely ill that even her family found their visits to her bedside to be horrific..."

From:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080827/national/maple_leaf_recall_lawsuit

Answer 1

One would assume they're saying it's Listeria based on culture results, which would be hard to refute. It isn't at all unusual in medicine to find the unexpected, with common presentations of uncommon illnesses and uncommon presentations of common illnesses.

In this case, one would expect that the organism would be opportunistic in a person with a compromised immune system. And to link it with the "outbreak" would be a leap of faith. It would be difficult indeed to show causality rather than a spurious and random event. On the other hand, the defense lawyer trying to excite the jury about Koch's postulates and such would have his work cut out for him.

Answer 2

Common symptoms include:

fever

muscle aches

nausea

diarrhea

People who are not in the high-risk categories usually have no symptoms at all.

Symptoms usually begin around 3 weeks after infection (range, 3-7 days).

If infection spreads to the nervous system, other symptoms may include:

headache

stiff neck

confusion

loss of balance

convulsions

Infected pregnant women may experience only a mild, flu-like illness; however, infections during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage or stillbirth, premature delivery, or infection of the newborn.