Precautions Needed to Avoid Food-borne Infections in Cancer Patients

Patients with cancer have a fivefold increased risk of developing listerosis compared with patients with other predisposing conditions and should be advised to take precautions to avoid food-borne infections, British researchers report.

 

Listerosis, caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is rare, but can be serious in patients with cancer or others with suppressed T-cell–mediated immunity due to the disease or its treatment. 

 

Piers Mook of the Health Protection Agency, London, England, and associates identified 1413 English patients (excluding pregnant women and their infants) who had listerosis between 1999 and 2009. Two-thirds (936) of patients had one or more underlying conditions.

 

The researchers found that a wide variety of conditions, including diabetes, AIDS, and liver or kidney disease, increased the risk for serious infection with L monocytogenes, but malignancies accounted for more than one third of cases.The risk was nearly five times higher for cancer patients than for those with other underlying conditions. Patients with blood cancers were at highest risk. The findings are reported online in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

 

Martin Ledwick, head information nurse at Cancer Research UK, said: "Currently patients who are receiving high doses of chemotherapy should be advised to take precautions to avoid food-borne infections.” He added that "although the findings suggest that this advice should be extended to all cancer patients having any type of treatment that compromises their immunity…. it is not certain whether this precaution is absolutely necessary for all cancer patients.”

 

Patients can reduce the risk of listerosis by avoiding certain foods, including prepackaged and slice delicatessen meats, soft cheeses, smoked fish, pate, pre-prepared cooked and chilled meals, pre-prepared sandwiches, and unpasteurized milk.