title: Prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in raw bovine milk and milk products from central highlands of Ethiopia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Listeria monocytogenes is of major significance in human and veterinary medicine. Most human Listeria infections are foodborne and the association of contaminated milk and dairy produce consumption with human listeriosis is noteworthy. In Ethiopia, there is limited data regarding the prevalence of L. monocytogenes in raw bovine milk and dairy products. The aim of this study was, therefore, to determine the prevalence of L. monocytogenes in raw bovine milk and dairy produce.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 443 milk and milk product samples were microbiologically analyzed following methods recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Bacteriological Analytical Manual to isolate Listeria spp.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall prevalence of Listeria spp. was 28.4% and specifically that of L. monocytogenes was 5.6%. Taking the prevalence of Listeria spp. into consideration, cheese was found to be highly contaminated at 60%, followed by pasteurized milk samples (40%), raw milk (18.9%) and yoghurt (5%). Considering the prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes only, raw milk had the lowest contamination while cheese had the highest, followed by pasteurized milk and yoghurt.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Raw milk and milk products produced in urban and peri-urban areas of central Ethiopia were contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, L. monocytogenes. The detection of this pathogen in raw milk and milk products warrants an urgent regulatory mechanism to be put in place and also the potential role of milk processing plants in the contamination of dairy products should be investigated.
authors.affiliation: Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. eyasutigabu@ymail.com.
authors.forename: Eyasu Tigabu
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Seyoum
authors.forename: Daniel Asrat
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Woldetsadik
authors.forename: Tesfu Kassa
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Mekonen
authors.forename: Haile Alemayehu
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Gezahegn
authors.forename: Wondwossen Abebe
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Gebreyes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D043302:Cultured Milk Products / Q000382:microbiology*; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005506:Food Contamination; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology*; D015995:Prevalence