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Listeria monocytogenes septicemia in foals: A case series (1986 to 2024)
Can Vet J. 2026 Jan 1;67(1):43-49. eCollection 2026 Jan.
Authors
Erika Sjolin 1 , Daniela Espinosa 1 , Luis Arroyo 1 , Daniel Kenney 1 , Amy Lack 1 , John Baird 1
Affiliation1 Department of Clinical Studies, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1.
PMID: 41586142
PMCID: PMC12825671 (available on 2026-04-01)Abstract
in English, FrenchListeriosis is caused by Listeria monocytogenes, a Gram-positive, facultative anaerobic, intracellular rod bacterium that can infect a wide variety of species. Listeriosis occurs in a diverse range of domestic and wild animals but is most commonly a disease of ruminants. Clinical signs include meningoencephalitis, typhlocolitis, septic arthritis, and abortions. Listeriosis in horses has been reported in several countries but is an uncommon diagnosis. This report describes clinical, bacteriological, histopathological, and immunohistochemical findings in 6 foals with neonatal septicemia from which L. monocytogenes was isolated. Key clinical message: Listeriosis is considered rare in neonatal foals but should be considered in neonatal foals exhibiting septicemia and neurological signs. Cerebrospinal fluid cytology and blood culture testing are crucial in establishing the diagnosis, though L. monocytogenes is difficult to isolate. Cases in foals have a high risk of non-survival.
Copyright and/or publishing rights held by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.
From the Merck Veterinary Manual:
Listeriosis is a sporadic bacterial infection that affects a wide range of animals, including humans and birds. Encephalitis or meningoencephalitis in adult ruminants is the most frequently recognized form. Listeriosis is seen worldwide, more frequently in temperate and colder climates. There is a high incidence of intestinal carriers.Listeria monocytogenes is a small, motile, gram-positive, nonspore-forming, extremely resistant, diphtheroid coccobacillus that grows in a wide temperature range 4°–44°C (39°–111°F). Its ability to grow at 4°C is an important diagnostic aid (the “cold enrichment” method) for isolation of the organism from brain tissue but not from placental or fetal tissues. Primary isolation is enhanced under microaerophilic conditions. It is a ubiquitous saprophyte that lives in a plant-soil environment and has been isolated from at least 42 species of domestic and wild mammals and 22 species of birds, as well as fish, crustaceans, insects, sewage, water, silage and other feedstuffs, milk, cheese, meconium, feces, and soil.
The natural reservoirs of L monocytogenes appear to be soil and mammalian GI tracts, both of which contaminate vegetation. Grazing animals ingest the organism and further contaminate vegetation and soil. Animal-to-animal transmission occurs via the fecal-oral route.
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