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Glite Dictionary
Listeria

Listeria

1 7.0
A kind of bacteria that can cause serious illness if you eat contaminated food
  • noun
  • /lɪˈstɪəriə/
  • Specialized
translation icon : Listeria
  • Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Typhimurium infections
  • Listeria monocytogenes

Examples

  • Listeria bacteria are able to grow in a variety of foods, under a wide range of conditions, and so the food industry is very careful to practice good food and hand hygiene to avoid the risk of listeriosis.

    Academic text (2014)

  • You can't even get to issues of salmonella and listeria contamination if you don't even have a crop.

    Blog text (18)

  • The primary reason that listeria contaminates cheese is because of the processing and aging environment.

    Blog text (13)

  • This or similar cultures might be effective against listeria, campylobacter, or E. coli.

    Academic text (1994)

  • These samples have not yielded Listeria monocyte genes.

  • Listeria monocytogenes was commonly isolated from all sorts of foods.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Listeria monocytogenes is the causative agent of listeriosis in both humans and animals (Food and Drug Administration FDA, 2001a).

    Academic text (2005)

  • Listeria monocytogenes has also been found in a wide range of foods—from dairy products, liquid whole eggs, red meat, poultry, and seafood to vegetables.

    Academic text (1996)

  • During the summer, a significant listeria outbreak caused dozens of illnesses across several states.

  • Pregnant women are advised to avoid certain foods to reduce the risk of listeria infection.

Compounds

Listeria monocytogenes
  • Specialized
1 7.6

A type of bacteria that causes serious food poisoning in people and animals

listeria meningitis
  • Specialized
8.7

A serious brain and lining infection caused by Listeria bacteria in newborns or people with weak immunity

Surface Forms

Listeria singular
Listerias plural

Morphology

Listeria = Lister (opaque) = Lister + ia

Formed from the surname 'Lister' plus the Latin/taxonomic suffix '-ia'; the resulting genus name's meaning (a bacterium) is not inferable by an average learner from the surname.

Etymology

Listeria is named after the British doctor Lister, who fought infections by making surgery much cleaner. The ending -ia, as in malaria, is a common ending for illness names, so Listeria is the name given to a kind of bacteria that can cause illness from food.