--- title: Why Listeria stays in your system for so long date: 2023-05-29T14:06:00-07:00 author: Julie Dueck canonical_url: "https://marlerclark.com/news_events/why-listeria-stays-in-your-system-for-so-long" section: News --- [All News](/news_events) / [](https://marlerclark.com/news_events) / # Why Listeria stays in your system for so long *Listeria* is common in nature, found widely in water, soil, infected animals, human and animal feces, raw and treated sewage, leafy vegetables, effluent from poultry and meat processing facilities, decaying corn and soybeans, improperly fermented silage, and raw (unpasteurized) milk. Foods commonly identified as sources of *Listeria* infection include improperly pasteurized fluid milk, cheeses (particularly soft-ripened varieties, such as traditional Mexican cheeses, Camembert and ricotta), ice cream, raw vegetables, fermented raw meat sausages, raw and cooked poultry, and cooked, ready-to-eat (RTE) sliced meats like deli meats*.* Except for the transmission of mother to fetus, human-to-human transmission of *Listeria* is not known to occur. Infection is caused almost exclusively by the ingestion of the bacteria, most often through the consumption of contaminated food. The most widely accepted estimate of foodborne transmission is 85 to 95 percent of all *Listeria* cases. The amount of time from infection to the onset of symptoms — typically referred to as the incubation period — can vary significantly. Symptoms of *Listeria* infection can develop at any time from two to 70 days after eating contaminated food. When a person is infected and develops symptoms of *Listeria* infection, the resulting illness is called listeriosis. Only a small percentage of persons who ingest *Listeria* fall ill or develop symptoms. For those who do develop symptoms because of their infection, the resulting illness is either mild or quite severe. On the mild end of the spectrum, listeriosis usually consists of the sudden onset of fever, chills, severe headache, vomiting, and other influenza-type symptoms. The CDC notes that infected individuals may develop fever, muscle aches, and sometimes gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea. When present, the diarrhea usually lasts one to four days (42 hours on average), with 12 bowel movements per day at its worst. Few people with normal immune function go on to have more severe, life-threatening forms of listeriosis, characterized by septic shock, meningitis, and encephalitis. Pregnant women have a mildly impaired immune system that makes them susceptible to *Listeria* infection. If infected, the illness appears as an acute fever, muscle pain, backache, and headache. Illness usually occurs in the third trimester, which is when immunity is at its lowest. Infection during pregnancy can lead to premature labor, miscarriage, infection of the newborn, or even stillbirth. Twenty two percent of such infections result in stillbirth or neonatal death. For those persons who suffer a *Listeria* infection that does not resolve on its own, the complications (or *sequelae*) can be many. The most common is septicemia (bacterial pathogens in the blood, also known as bacteremia), then meningitis. 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