To prevent listeriosis, attention must be paid to reducing individual risk factors.
Behavioral risk factors
- Diet
- Contaminated foods such as raw meat (raw sausage or minced meat), raw milk (unpasteurized milk); soft cheese made from unpasteurized milk; not infrequently via contaminated plant foods (unwashed fruits or vegetables), smoked fish (e.g., smoked salmon), or inadequately heated meat
- Contact infections
- Infection by healthy excretors by the fecal-oral route.
- Direct contact with infected animals
- Animal excretions
- Contaminated water
- Occurrence in soils
Drugs
- Long-term therapy with glucocorticoids (cortisone).
