Antimicrobial Resistance and Virulence Characterization of Listeria monocytogenes

Dear Colleagues,

Listeria monocytogenes is one of the most significant foodborne pathogens, responsible for listeriosis, a severe disease with the highest mortality rate among foodborne infections. This pathogen is a noteworthy example of a human pathogen that highlights the importance of the One Health approach. In high-risk human populations, such as the elderly, pregnant women, neonates, and immunocompromised individuals, L. monocytogenes infection can lead to serious clinical outcomes such as septicemia, meningoencephalitis, and miscarriage, often accompanied by high morbidity and mortality. In animals, particularly ruminants, it can cause encephalitis, reproductive losses, and death, and they may also serve as reservoirs and carriers of the pathogen. The ubiquitous presence of L. monocytogenes in the environment and its ability to persist in food processing facilities enables it to contaminate processed and ready-to-eat foods, posing a significant threat to food safety. Recent studies have shown that L. monocytogenes strains isolated from animals, food products, food industry environments, and clinical cases are increasingly acquiring antimicrobial resistance and carrying a wide variety of virulence genes. Notably, the increase in the emergence of multidrug resistant strains, especially those that are resistant to critically and highly important antimicrobials for human medicine, highlights the need for enhanced surveillance and effective infection prevention and control strategies. Despite growing concern, comprehensive data on antimicrobial susceptibility testing, pathogenicity and molecular characterization of resistant L. monocytogenes strains remain limited. Therefore, this Special Issue seeks submissions to bring together various voices across humans, animals, food, plants and the environment, with the aim of addressing existing knowledge gaps. We also encourage the publication of original research articles, reviews, or other types of papers concerning the virulence mechanisms and evolution of antimicrobial resistance of Listeria monocytogenes, the epidemiology and outbreak investigations, the surveillance of its resistance in the clinical setting, the food pathway, the animal husbandry and the environment, and also the innovations in detection and control strategies in the food chain and transmission routes.

Dr. Anestis Tsitsos
Dr. Panagiota Gousia
Dr. Konstantinos Papageorgiou
Guest Editors

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