Despite disinfection and hygiene efforts during food production pathogenic bacteria often persist. Foodborne pathogenic bacteria are a major cause of foodborne illness. Cleaning and chemical disinfection may work against some bacteria but not on cyst forming free-living protozoans. cysts are an integral part of the life cycle of many protozoans which allow them to survive adverse environmental conditions. pathogenic bacteria have been shown to survive inside cyst even after exposed to antibiotic treatment or highly acidic conditions. Common and wide spread foodborne pathogenic bacteria like salmonella, E-coli, Yersinia, and listeria were found to survive with up to 53% of amoeba cysts infection and some surviving up to 3 weeks! This suggest protozoa may play a bigger role on foodborne illness and further research on the factors and condition that prevent uptake of foodborne pathogens by protozoa is necessary.
TEM micrograph of A. Castellanii cyst with (c) E.Coli and (b) L.Monocytogenes
figure from Lambrecht et al.
Lambrecht E, Baré J, Chavatte N, Bert W, Sabbe K, Houf K. 2015. Protozoan cysts act as a survival niche and protective shelter for foodborne pathogenic bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 81:5604–5612. doi:
10.1128/AEM.01031-15.
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