Health Minister Dr
Aaron Motsoaledi says while it cannot be concluded that Sovereign Foods
abattoir is the source of the Listeriosis outbreak, stopping the
facility from food preparation was "in the best interest of public
health".
"At this juncture,
we cannot conclude that the abattoir called Sovereign Foods is the
source of the present outbreak. [However] we can conclude that it has
Listeria, which can cause illness and hence it was in the best interest
of public health that the abattoir was prohibited from further preparing
food, pending the cleaning of the environment and meeting certain
conditions given to them.
"What concerns us
more at this moment is that this particular abattoir was closed two
months ago by DAFF [Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries]
following the discovery of unhygienic conditions and practices, which of
course were not necessarily related to Listeria," said the Minister on
Monday at a briefing in Tshwane.
Dr Aaron Motsoaledi |
The Department of
Health has put the Listeriosis outbreak on high surveillance as 119 new
cases have occurred since 5 December 2017 and 61 patients have passed
on.
Sovereign Foods
abattoir, which lab tests found to contain traces of Listeria, did not
test positive for ST6, which is the strain suspected to be the cause of
the present outbreak.
Minister Motsoaledi
said environmental health investigations had been conducted in July
2017 by Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality at the abattoir, the findings
of which were "existence of conditions that constitute a nuisance in the
facility".
"These led to
delayed issuance of a Certificate of Acceptability at the time until
such time that the corrective measures were implemented," said the
Minister.
Sovereign Foods
Sovereign Foods was
served with a prohibition notice after a chicken sample that was traced
to its abattoir from a Listeriosis patient's home tested positive for
listeria.
According to the
Department of Health, the chicken sample from the fridge at the
patient's home tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes.
"This chicken was traced back to the store, and from there traced back to the abattoir it was sourced from, Sovereign Foods.
"Environmental
health practitioners visited the abattoir and collected food and
environmental samples, several of which tested positive for Listeria
monocytogenes. As a precaution, the abattoir was served with a
prohibition notice pending further investigations," Minister Motsoaledi
said.
In an effort to scientifically trace the origins of the outbreak, a whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis was done.
WGS is a
DNA-fingerprinting analysis which aims to determine whether particular
organisms are related and are of the same sequence type.
To do this, the
National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) used what it calls
isolates from three different sources. These sources are:Clinical isolates: obtained from the blood of a sick patient.
Food isolates: obtained from the food that is found in the patient's home or any other locality like food production sites;Environmental isolates: obtained from the environment where food is produced.
The clinical
isolates are represented by nine sequence types which are ST1, ST101,
ST2, ST219, ST5, ST54, ST6, ST8 and ST876. However, 91% of these
clinical isolates are sequence type 6 (ST6), which are closely related
and represent a single strain of Listeria monocytogenes.
"It can then be
said that the strain for this present outbreak we are experiencing is
ST6 or strain 6. It has been identified in isolates from all nine
provinces. This supports the current working hypothesis that a single
widely consumed food product or multiple food products produced at a
single facility is causing the outbreak," said Minister Motsoaledi.
He said although
inroads have been made, they cannot yet link the clinical isolates
obtained from patients to a particular food stuff or a particular food
production site environment.
Sovereign Foods
abattoir, which contained traces of Listeria, did not test positive for
the ST6, which is the strain suspected to be the cause of the present
outbreak.
"All the samples
collected from the food and environment at the abattoir have up to so
far failed to pick up the outbreak strain ST6," Minister Motsoaledi
said.
The abattoir was
nonetheless slapped with a prohibition notice for public health safety
because other strains with the potential to cause disease were
identified.
Health calls for clean-up of food industry
In an effort to
curb the outbreak, a special meeting was held with all senior managers
in Gauteng on 15 December 2017 to inspect all food premises within the
province, targeting food processing areas and retail foods.
"The Director
General of the National Department of Health has formally requested food
industry stakeholders to submit details of Listeria-positive food
items, environmental swabs and Listeria isolates to the NICD," said the
department.
Despite several stakeholders coming forward, the ministry said not all stakeholders have responded as yet.
"Clinical
Listeriosis management guidelines are available on the website and the
NICD continues to operate its 24-hour hotline to support healthcare
workers," said Minister Motsoaledi.
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