Singapore identifies listeriosis strain similar to Australia outbreak

SINGAPORE, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Singapore identified a listeria bacteria strain similar to the one that a patient had contracted in the deadly outbreak in Australia this year, Singapore's Ministry of Health said here Monday.

The ministry said in a statement that its National Public Health Laboratory has completed the genetic sequence analysis on bacteria strains taken from five patients who had listeriosis this year.

The ministry found that two of them were infected by the listeria strain ST240, which had a similar gene sequence to the strain found in a patient in the Australian listeriosis outbreak.

One of the patients has recovered while the other died "for reasons not due to the listeria infection," it added.

Rock melons contaminated with the listeriosis bacteria were exported from Australia to at least nine countries including Singapore, where the affected rock melons were recalled and destroyed by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority in March.

"There is no further public health risk from the Australia outbreak as the risks have been mitigated through the recall of the implicated consignments in March 2018," it said.

The ministry added that it will continue to monitor the situation closely. Enditem