Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of Listeria monocytogenes in humans, animals, and foods of animal origin in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Listeria monocytogenes is a food-borne bacterial pathogen known to cause a burden on human health and food safety globally. Regardless of the few available studies on Listeria monocytogenes, there is no comprehensive evidence of its prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility in Ethiopia. We conducted to estimate the pooled prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of Listeria monocytogenes from various sources in Ethiopia. The study was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) Checklist. The quality of the studies was assessed based on the Newcastle–Ottawa scale. We found 18 studies that fit our inclusion criteria. Results were synthesized with random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regressions to evaluate heterogeneity between studies. The pooled prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes from various sources in Ethiopia was 4.2% (95% CI, 2.13, 6.22). The pooled prevalence was higher in human subjects 6.4% (95% CI, 0.27–15.6) when compared to animals 4.7% (95% CI, −0.40 to 9.1) and foods of animal origin 5.1% (95% CI, 0.42–10.6). Higher rate of resistance of Listeria monocytogenes against tetracycline (72.7%), amoxicillin (63.7%), nalidixic acid (63.6%), penicillin (63.6%), and cephalothin (54.5%) was observed. The prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes and the occurrence of resistant isolates in different source populations warn of a potential future threat to public health. Hence, increasing public awareness and designing effective policies and disease control measures are strongly recommended.

Keywords:

• Antimicrobial resistance
• Listeria monocytogenes
• meta-analysis
• systematic review

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Pedro González-Redondo, [email protected], Senior Editor, University of Seville, Seville, Spain

SUBJECTS:

• Bioscience
• Epidemiology
• Food microbiology
• Food safety management

Authors contributions

T.T. conducted the meta-analysis; T.Z. and T.E. assisted with data analysis and figures. T.T. drafted the initial manuscript, and O.G. and T.K. contributed to the text and re-visions. T.Z, O.G. and T.K. decided the criteria for article screening, screened articles, extracted data for the meta-analysis, contributed to data analysis and figures, and edited the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research received no external funding