What are the key clinical features to consider when diagnosing listeriosis in a pregnant patient?

When diagnosing listeriosis in a pregnant patient, key clinical features to consider include nonspecific flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, myalgia, and malaise, which are common initial presentations. Additionally, pregnant women may present with gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. Importantly, listeriosis in pregnancy can lead to more severe outcomes including miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm labour, or neonatal infection, so a high index of suspicion is necessary when these complications arise without clear cause. Maternal febrile illness in the second or third trimester should prompt consideration of listeriosis, especially if accompanied by a history of consuming high-risk foods such as unpasteurised dairy products or deli meats. Laboratory confirmation through blood cultures or amniotic fluid sampling is essential for diagnosis, as clinical features alone are often nonspecific. Early recognition and treatment are critical to reduce adverse fetal outcomes ¹ (Marget and Seeliger, 1988; Chen et al., 2020).