Listeria

[Antheia]

Just going on from another discussion about what not to eat in pregnancy. Just thinking out loud here really but why is it that you never hear about listeria except when it concerns pregnancy? I know it is really bad to get it in pregnancy but you never hear of someone who isnt pregnant getting it or making a fuss over it.

Also i've never once had food poisoning eating soft serve ice cream for example but if you eat it in pregnancy, it's bad. I just find it hard to understand that the food you eat when not pregnant is bad in pregnancy even though you've never been sick from it pre-pregnancy.

Not that when im pregnant i just eat what i want. I do avoid the really bad stuff and things that dont look fresh.

I'm not looking for a debate here about the risk of listeria in pregnancy. I do know the risks. More just why we cant eat the food we normally eat that's never made us sick.

[Netix]

I think we are told not to eat this or that to "minimise the risk" to the baby, and that its from 'new' research. ?
I eat pretty much whatever too. The only thing I don't is soft cheese. And I don't even eat it when I'm not pg. If I'm feeling guilty, then I probably wont eat much, like kebabs or subway. But having thought about it, if I'm happy with how it looks, then I'll eat it. If I'm not confident about its freshness, then I won't eat it.
I didn't think you were looking for an argument.
Oh, and if anyone is worried about soft serve ice cream, but is about to kill their husband if they don't come home with some, then apparently McDonalds soft serve is the best (cleanest) around, as they clean their machines daily. Dammit. Now I want a caramel sundae.

[MantaRay]

Antheia, I think the reason is that listeria is mostly asymptomatic. People get it without knowing they have it all the time. Hence the danger, as it can cause m/c or still birth without the mum even knowing she has it. Now that we know about listeria (in the last 10 or so years), it is now believed that many of the "cause unknown" m/c and still births were actually due to listeria.

[juleswa]

it's not so much the risk to you. listeria in an adult will generally not cause a symptom as MantaRay says, but for a fetus is a different story.

[Antheia]

But i thought Listeria caused flu like symptoms? So i would think you'd know something was wrong. Unless i'm thinking about something else. Correct me if i'm wrong.

[Trillian]

Antheia, you can be a carrier but not ever get sick from it. The way I see it, listeria is a parasite that can attack your body if the conditons are right. Babys in the womb are parasties as well (as awful as that sounds). Our Immune system starts to rally to fight off the parasites, but at the same time inadvertently fighting off the baby as well - resulting in m/c. Is that even right or am I talking out my butt? LOL

[MantaRay]

I think Trillian has got it pretty right. I have heard that it can cause flu like symptoms, but you can also get it without knowing. And realistically I think if you feel fluey you are going to put it down to flu, not get tested for listeria. So I think that people would very rarely be aware that they have had it.

[Antheia]

Oh ok. Must have got my info mixed up along the line somewhere.

So is it rare to get or is it pretty easy to get listeria?

[Trillian]

I have no idea how easy it is to get. The average healthy person though could get it, their immune system fights it off without you getting so much as a sniffle, but others may be more susceptible. Don't quote me, but I *think* when you are pg your immune system can be a bit screwy too, hence your increased chance of contracting it.

[belfie]

I've heard that the occurrence of listeria is actually pretty low now (well in Australia anyway), but then is that because the guidelines about what to eat are so much more publicised and well known? My doc spoke with the head of Infectious Diseases at one of the hosps in Melb and apparently was told the rates are very low.

I've also heard the same as others have said, that increased risk is due to your immune system being a bit lowered when you're PG, and that your fetus has far far higher chance of contracting it (and having it be harmful) even though it's highly unlikely to harm you. Apparently elderly & ppl with cancer are also at higher risk too. So from that I took it that it's something to be sensible, but not petrified about IYKWIM! And in answer to the question...

why we cant eat the food we normally eat that's never made us sick.

then my understanding is a) we're more at risk than we normally are, and b) bubba has less protection against this than we do.

[Antheia]

Thanks for not taking this the wrong way as i really just wanted to find out how it all works because i dont know much about it. Only what people have told me.

To be honest i think it needs to be publicised more. I never knew about listeria in my first pregnancy until i signed up on bellybelly and found out that way. I can imagine there's a lot of people who dont know much about it if at all.