Overview

• The ECDC identified four listeriosis cases in Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway between April and July with DNA profiles matching French infections.
• Santé publique France has confirmed 21 patients aged 34 to 95, including two fatalities, linked to consumption of soft pasteurized cow- and goat-milk cheeses from Fromagerie Chavegrand.
• Fromagerie Chavegrand shut an older production line in June and ramped up product and equipment testing by 100-fold while investigators work to trace the contamination source.
• Food safety authorities have withdrawn about 40 cheese references worldwide and issued public warnings across nearly 30 countries, from the United States to Japan.
• Health agencies are urging pregnant people, the elderly and immunocompromised individuals to seek medical attention for fever or severe headaches given listeriosis’s incubation of up to eight weeks.