Listeriosis outbreak caused by acid curd cheese ‘Quargel’, Austria and Germany 2009

R Fretz; U Sagel; W Ruppitsch; A T Pietzka; A Stöger; S Huhulescu; S Heuberger; J Pichler; P Much; G Pfaff; K Stark; R Prager; A Flieger; O Feenstra; F Allerberger

doi:10.2807/ese.15.05.19477-en

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Listeriosis outbreak caused by acid curd cheese ‘Quargel’, Austria and Germany 2009
R Fretz¹ , U Sagel^1,2 , W Ruppitsch¹ , A T Pietzka¹ , A Stöger¹ , S Huhulescu¹ , S Heuberger¹ , J Pichler¹ , P Much¹ , G Pfaff ³ , K Stark⁴ , R Prager⁴ , A Flieger⁴ , O Feenstra⁵ , F Allerberger¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Vienna, Austria ² Binational Consiliar Laboratory for Listeria, Germany and Austria, Vienna, Austria ³ State Health Office (LGA) Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, Germany ⁴ Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Berlin and Wernigerode, Germany ⁵ Public Health Authority, Graz, Austria

Correspondence:
R Fretz
rainer.fretz ages.at
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Citation style for this article: Fretz R, Sagel U, Ruppitsch W, Pietzka A T, Stöger A, Huhulescu S, Heuberger S, Pichler J, Much P, Pfaff G, Stark K, Prager R, Flieger A, Feenstra O, Allerberger F. Listeriosis outbreak caused by acid curd cheese ‘Quargel’, Austria and Germany 2009. Euro Surveill. 2010;15(5):pii=19477. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.15.05.19477-en Received: 27 Jan 2010

Abstract

We report an outbreak of listeriosis in Austria and Germany due to the consumption of ‘Quargel’ cheese produced by an Austrian manufacturer. At the time of writing this report, the outbreak was known to account for 14 outbreak cases in 2009, including four cases with lethal outcome. On 23 January 2010, the cheese product was voluntarily withdrawn from the market.