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11. 03. 10. - 12:00

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11. 03. 10. - 12:00

Two more people develop listeria infections

Two more people have been hospitalised with listeria bacteria infections, the Agency for Health and Nutrition Safety (AGES) announced today (Weds).

AGES said a 70-year-old woman had been hospitalised in Lower Austria with inflammation of the lining of her brain and blood poisoning and a 79-year-old man had been hospitalised in Styria with inflammation of the lining of his brain.

It added that at least one of the two cases of illness had developed after the recall of products contaminated by deadly listeria.

AGES said 17 people had been hospitalised with listeria infections this year, and 12 cases had been linked to contaminated Quargel cheese that was recalled on 24 January. There were 12 cases, including four deaths, last year.

There were serious deficiencies in food controls last year in Styria, the free Styrian weekly newspaper Woche claimed last week.

Woche’s report came in the wake of news about Styrian firm Prolactal, which produced the deadly Quargel cheese that resulted in the deaths of 10 people in Austria and Germany last year.

Woche said lack of personnel had resulted in provincial authorities’ failure to engage in at least 1,000 planned control operations last year.

In response, provincial safety director Odo Feenstra said three members of the 18-man control team had been on sick leave for a long time but measures had been taken to strengthen it.

Provincial food supervisor Gernot Handler said there had been 4,928 control operations and 1,942 surveys in 2009 rather than the planned 5,916 control operations and 2,991 surveys.

Feenstra ruled out any link between the reduced number of control operations last year and illnesses caused by Quargel cheese contaminated by listeria bacteria. He said the reduction in control operations had lowered the number of low-risk targets rather than high-risk targets examined.

Failure in warning and control systems had been the cause of listeria contamination of eight brands of its Quargel cheese, Prolactal recently claimed.

The firm said a scarab or type of beetle (Dungkäfer or aphodius fimetarius) had been the carrier of the disease. Beetles had climbed through an open window and contaminated machines used to make the cheese.

Graz public prosecutor’s office announced several weeks ago that it would investigate the deadly Prolactal cheese case.

Consumption of food with excessive concentrations of listeria can lead to meningitis, encephalitis and blood-poisoning.

Austrian Times

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