{"id":1221,"date":"2015-01-13T09:32:07","date_gmt":"2015-01-13T14:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/?p=1221"},"modified":"2015-07-01T03:05:55","modified_gmt":"2015-07-01T07:05:55","slug":"at-last-the-fairy-tale-becomes-clear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2015\/01\/13\/1221\/at-last-the-fairy-tale-becomes-clear\/","title":{"rendered":"At Last, The Fairy Tale Becomes Clear\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you ever wondered how Snow White could have been poisoned by eating an apple, you probably did not realize how much this tale of folklore was based on cruel reality.\u00a0 Science has finally caught up with the Brothers Grimm who wrote the fairy tale:\u00a0 a recent outbreak of listeriosis traced to contaminated candied apples\u00a0<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> gives us good reason to believe that Snow White ate a listeria-laced agricultural product. Thank you, CDC for uncovering a connection which has baffled us already way too long\u2026<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>(Alright, okay, I admit that the tale of Snow White does not mention specifically that the apple was actually a candied apple.\u00a0 But you have to admit that it could well have been a candied apple.\u00a0 These fairy tales often make no sense at all unless you fill in the gaps with a bit of imagination)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Actually, listeriosis is no laughing matter.\u00a0 Diagnosis is often delayed, and even proper treatment does not guarantee a benign outcome.\u00a0 The organism has found unique ways to avoid immune activation and clearance.\u00a0 Fortunately, resistance is still rare or only slowly increasing\u00a0<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a>; ampicillin, gentamicin, and TMP\/SMX remain the drugs of choice.\u00a0 Other useful drugs are imipenem, meropenem, and vancomycin.<\/p>\n<p>Here a few lesser known facts about listeria, a not so uncommon pathogen:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Truly ubiquitous, Listeria is found in soil, animals, plants, and sewage<\/li>\n<li>Human intestinal carriage rates as high as 70% in healthy persons have been reported\u00a0<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1223\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1223\" style=\"width: 151px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Seeliger.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1223 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Seeliger.jpg?resize=151%2C180&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Seeliger\" width=\"151\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1223\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prof. Heinz Seeliger, eminent researcher and teacher University of W\u00fcrzburg, Germany<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Serotyping was introduced by Heinz Seeliger following the O and H classification introduced by Fritz Kauffmann (a Danish microbiologist known for his work on Salmonella) and with whom he collaborated. In honor of his contributions, a listeria species was named after him (L. seeligeri).\u00a0 Ironically, apathogenic L. seeligeri cannot be distinguished serologically from pathogenic L. monocytogenes.<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Pasteurization of milk should work for extracellular listeria but may not eliminate all intracellular and more protected microbes\u00a0<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Listeria can spread from cell to cell via protrusions without any extracellular passage, thus avoiding T-cell activation<\/li>\n<li>Ampicillin, the drug of choice, is only bacteriostatic against extracellular, but bactericidal against intracellular listeria\u00a0<a href=\"#_ftn6\" name=\"_ftnref6\">[6]<\/a>. The opposite is true for gentamicin which is bactericidal for extracellular organisms but ineffective against intracellular microbes for obvious reasons.<\/li>\n<li>The organism is able to survive refrigeration, high salt concentrations and low pH conditions. It can grow at 4 degrees Celsius (cold enrichment) and develop acid-tolerance\u00a0<a href=\"#_ftn7\" name=\"_ftnref7\">[7]<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We are not told whether Snow White was immunocompromised or pregnant at the time when she ate the apple and succumbed to Listeria infection.\u00a0 Needless to say, she may have known already that deli meats, raw milk, unpasteurized cheeses and cantaloupes are big no-no\u2019s.\u00a0 Clearly she could not resist the gift of a candied apple which did her in.\u00a0 Just another example of \u201cwhat you don\u2019t know may kill you\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a scary world out there\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>References:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/listeria\/outbreaks\/caramel-apples-12-14\/<br \/>\n<a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> B Khen. Zoonoses Public Health. 2014 Feb 10. doi: 10.1111\/zph.12106. [Epub ahead of print]<br \/>\n<a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Hernandez-Milian. BioMed Research International; 2014, Article ID 358051, http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1155\/2014\/358051<br \/>\n<a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> H. Seeliger. Internat J Food Microbiol 8 (1989): 245<br \/>\n<a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/preview\/mmwrhtml\/00001316.htm<br \/>\n<a href=\"#_ftnref6\" name=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a> S Carryn. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 2003, 51:\u00a0105<br \/>\n<a href=\"#_ftnref7\" name=\"_ftn7\">[7]<\/a> J Smith.\u00a0 Can. J. Microbiol. 59: 141, 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you ever wondered how Snow White could have been poisoned by eating an apple, you probably did not realize how much this tale of folklore was based on cruel reality.\u00a0 Science has finally caught up with the Brothers Grimm who wrote the fairy tale:\u00a0 a recent outbreak of listeriosis <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2015\/01\/13\/1221\/at-last-the-fairy-tale-becomes-clear\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  At Last, The Fairy Tale Becomes Clear\u2026<\/span><span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[227,3],"tags":[765,266,775,759,764,639,763,772,760,771,774,766,776,627,371,769,757,773,770,761,346,762,768,758,767,48,777],"class_list":["post-1221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recent_literature","category-the_news","tag-ampicillin","tag-antibiotic-resistance","tag-brothers-grimm","tag-candied-apple","tag-carrier-state","tag-cdc","tag-cold-enrichment","tag-contaminated-apples","tag-contaminated-food","tag-food-poisoning","tag-gebruder-grimm-marchen","tag-gentamicin","tag-heinz-seeliger","tag-imipenem","tag-immune-evasion","tag-kauffmann","tag-listeria","tag-listeria-food-poisoning","tag-listeria-outbreak","tag-listeria-serotyping","tag-meropenem","tag-pasteurization","tag-seeliger","tag-snow-white","tag-tmpsmx","tag-vancomycin","tag-wurzburg"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/SnowWhite-slider.jpg?fit=640%2C180&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KWFr-jH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5219,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2025\/09\/03\/5219\/listeria-food-recalls-outbreaks-and-resistance\/","url_meta":{"origin":1221,"position":0},"title":"LISTERIA: Food Recalls, Outbreaks, and Resistance","author":"Harald","date":"September 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"You may be aware of recent food product recalls associated with food poisoning due to listeria contamination: ready-to-eat products, deli meats, sandwiches, protein snacks, chicken, turkey, cheese and dairy products.\u00a0 The list is long as Listeria is ubiquitous in the environment.\u00a0 One can find it in meat and milk\/cheese products\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Did you know...?&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Did you know...?","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/interesting_facts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1092,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2014\/10\/31\/1092\/ebola-transmission-prevention\/","url_meta":{"origin":1221,"position":1},"title":"Preventing Ebola Transmission","author":"Harald","date":"October 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Chapter 166\u00a0[1] in the new Mandell textbook was written before the current Ebola outbreak, so I thought it would be interesting to read View Postit again and check whether the \u2018old\u2019 recommendations for personal protection were still valid now that we have learned much more during the ongoing outbreak. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Viewpoint&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Viewpoint","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/the_viewpoint\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Lego-Hazmat-copy.jpg?fit=640%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Lego-Hazmat-copy.jpg?fit=640%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Lego-Hazmat-copy.jpg?fit=640%2C200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1067,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2014\/10\/13\/1067\/ebola-and-breach-of-protocol-makes-me-bristle\/","url_meta":{"origin":1221,"position":2},"title":"Ebola and &#8220;Breach of Protocol&#8221;: Makes Me Bristle\u2026","author":"Harald","date":"October 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We are told by\u00a0Tom Frieden \/ CDC that it was a \u201cprotocol breach\u201d when a nurse in Texas taking care of US Ebola patient no. 1 got infected? \u00a0At the same news conference, he tells us he doesn\u2019t know what kind of breach actually occurred. \u00a0So what is he talking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Viewpoint&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Viewpoint","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/the_viewpoint\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/BSL4-nurses-slider.jpg?fit=640%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/BSL4-nurses-slider.jpg?fit=640%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/BSL4-nurses-slider.jpg?fit=640%2C200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3071,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2017\/01\/19\/3071\/cdc-report-pan-resistant-ndm-klebsiella-nevada-sad-tale\/","url_meta":{"origin":1221,"position":3},"title":"CDC Report on Pan-Resistant NDM Klebsiella in Nevada\u2013 A Sad Tale","author":"Harald","date":"January 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"During the past few weeks the case of a patient with MDR Klebsiella infection has made the news. 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As of 7\/27\/2014, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone have reported a total of 1323 cases, with 729 fatalities [i].\u00a0 Most\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The News","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/the_news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1221"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1639,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions\/1639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}