[Listeriosis - four case reports]

The authors described four cases of listeria infection. The patients were hospitalized in the Department of Infectious Diseases of the Masaryk Hospital in Ustí nad Labem during the epidemic outbreak of this infection around the turn of 2006/2007. The disease in three of the four patients was manifested as purulent meningitis and in the remaining one as a sepsis. All of the patients were above the age of 55 years; moreover, two of them were assumed to be immunocompromised. In three of the patients, whose laboratory findings revealed purulent meningitis, direct microscopy of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), specific latex agglutination test and PCR were negative. Final diagnosis was determined on the basis of the CSF and blood cultures reported 3-4 days after collection. None of the patients suffered from diarrhoea. In the epidemiological anamnesis, only two of them admitted consumption of food that could become source of infection. The patients were successfully treated with either ampicillin and chloramphenicol.