INCIDENCE OF LISTERIOSIS IN BARCELONA, SPAIN, IN 1990

A population-based register of cases of listeriosis admitted to acute- care hospitals has been established in Barcelona, Spain, in order to e stimate the basal incidence of sporadic cases and to facilitate epidem iological surveillance of potential epidemics. Eleven acute-care hospi tals reported all cases of listeriosis to a central unit following a s tandardized protocol. During 1990, 31 patients with listeriosis were i dentified, 18 of whom were residents of the city, resulting in an annu al incidence of 10.95 cases per million inhabitants. Twelve of the 31 cases occurred in the period from July to September 1990, ten of them being community-acquired. The incidence of listeriosis was higher in e lderly (greater-than-or-equal-to 65 years) and immunosuppressed person s. Forty-two percent of the cases were considered to be nosocomial inf ections. The overall mortality rate was 51.6 %. The incidence of liste riosis in the present study is one of the highest reported in the lite rature. A high sensitivity of the reporting system with good case iden tification techniques, or demographic and environmental characteristic s related to Listeria monocytogenes infection in our area, might be po ssible reasons for this geographic variation.