Screening for Listeria monocytogenes and other related species from faecal specimens at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos.

Four hundred and twenty faecal specimens from patients with acute gastroenteritis and apparently healthy persons who reported at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) between October, 1988 and May, 1989 were investigated for faecal carriage of Listeria monocytogenes and other related species. Of these specimens, none was positive for Listeria species. However, the mannitol--fermenting Listeria species now Murraya grayi sub species grayi and Murraya grayi sub spp. murrayi representing 0.95% (4 out of 420) were isolated. Other well known enteric pathogens isolated in the course of this study were Escherichia coli (11.4%), Salmonella typhi (7.1%) and Yersinia species (1.4%).