Depolonisation: It all started with a casual chat

05 March 2018 - 06:32
By Katharine Child
The foods linked to listeria are Enterprise Russians‚ Rainbow Chicken polony and Enterprise polony. File photo.
Image: 123rf/ Andrey Starostin The foods linked to listeria are Enterprise Russians‚ Rainbow Chicken polony and Enterprise polony. File photo.

A chance conversation led to the first suggestion that there was a listeriosis outbreak.

It took place between doctors at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in 2017 and led to the alarm being raised about the outbreak.

South Africa is indebted to the enquiring mind of paediatrician and Wits lecturer Dr David Moore‚ who saw patterns in the data when his colleague told him about seven cases of listeriosis in newborns that had occurred in the first half of 2017.

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The source of the recent Listeriosis outbreak in the country has been found. Here is what we know so far.