EHE News
$1.5 Million Study Aims to Protect Pregnant Women from Food-Borne Disease
Pregnant women are about 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to get food-borne diseases such as listeriosis and salmonellosis. And the results could be tragic: Both mother and unborn baby are at risk of serious illness, and the baby could die.
That's why researchers at Ohio State University and Colorado State University are developing a specialized food safety intervention program targeting pregnant women. And, thanks to a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, they will be able to refine it and test its effectiveness.
"We've done all the groundwork, we have the basics for the educational materials," said Lydia Medeiros, a nationally recognized food safety expert. She is an associate professor of human nutrition in the College of Education and Human Ecology and specialist with Ohio State University Extension. "But we need to find out if an intensive educational program is something that will help women stay healthy. In the end, we want to see a lower incidence of both listeriosis and salmonellosis among pregnant women as a result of participating in our curriculum."
Of the two illnesses, listeriosis is less common but poses more risk.
Although only about 2,500 Americans are estimated to suffer from the illness each year, about 500 cases -- one-fifth of those affected -- are fatal. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one-third of listeriosis cases occur in pregnant women, probably because hormonal changes during pregnancy affect the mother's immune system, leading to an increased susceptibility if exposed to the microorganism Listeria monocytogenes. Even if an exposed pregnant woman suffers no symptoms, the illness can be transmitted to the fetus, causing premature delivery, miscarriage, stillbirth, or other serious health problems for the newborn.
The CDC says that every year, about 40,000 cases of salmonellosis are reported in the United States, but the actual number of infections may be much greater because many mild forms of the illness go unreported. The center estimates that approximately 600 persons die each year with acute salmonellosis, with children, the elderly and the immunocompromised most at risk.
For the study, Medeiros, who is also a researcher with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), has teamed up with Patricia Kendall, professor of food science and nutrition at Colorado State University. In the first year, they and other team members will focus efforts on refining their food safety curriculum, developed in a previous collaborative effort. They'll do so by working with English- and Spanish-speaking, low-income participants in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Programs (EFNEP) offered through their state Extension services -- OSU Extension and Colorado State University Cooperative Extension.
The materials will focus on practical recommendations to minimize the risk of Listeria monocytogenes from ready-to-eat meats, soft cheeses and other foods, as well as environmental exposures.
In the second and third years of the study, researchers plan to use the refined curriculum and recruit 300 pregnant women in each state at community health and prenatal clinics or WIC (Women, Infants, Children) programs.
Participants will be randomly assigned to either a control or a treatment group. Those in treatment groups will participate in intensive food-safety training classes and peer- counselor support sessions, receive educational materials and food thermometers, and get access to a telephone help line where they can ask food-safety questions. Those in the control group will receive typical food safety educational information consistent with their prenatal care.
Team members will visit all participants in their homes to complete surveys and collect microbiological samples from the kitchen sink, refrigerator, and two refrigerated-food samples. These visits will be repeated two months afterwards to see if participation in the intensive food safety program made a difference. In each state, microbiologists will test the samples for both Listeria and the more-common pathogen Salmonella.
In addition, Robert Scharff, assistant professor of consumer sciences in the College of Education and Human Ecology and researcher with OARDC, will analyze results to determine economic benefits that could result in reducing incidence of food-borne illness by following the recommended practices.
"We want to determine how much we can reduce risk by following certain practices," Medeiros said. "Being able to quantify that will show a real impact."
The study is being funded by the USDA's National Integrated Food Safety Initiative Specials Funds Program.
Writer: Martha Filipic, Creative Services, Communications and Technology, Ohio State University Extension, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.
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