How investigating the population biology of Listeria is ushering in a new era in listeriosis surveillance

By investigating the genome sequence of an international collection of strains of Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, two Institut Pasteur scientists, Sylvain Brisse and Marc Lecuit, have helped improve our understanding of how different Listeria strains circulate across the world. Their method of typing strains using high-throughput sequencing signals a new era for the global monitoring of listeriosis cases, paving the way for faster, more precise and internationally reproducible comparative analysis of strains. The Institut Pasteur's collaboration with prestigious health research institutes from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark and France for this study indicates the importance of these findings, which mark a turning point in the field.

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