Urban prevalence of Listeriaspp. and Listeria monocytogenes in public lavatories and on shoe soles of facility patrons in the European capital city Vienna
D. Schoder1,2*, A. Schmalwieser3, K. Szakmary-Brändle1, B. Stessl1, M. Wagner1
1Institute of Milk Hygiene, Milk Technology and Food Science, Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Science, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
2Veterinarians without Borders Austria, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
3Institute of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Listeria spp. and Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) in urban public lavatories and on shoe soles of facility patrons in a European capital city. More than 91% of all municipal public lavatories in Vienna close to public hubswere included in this study. Overall, 373 swab samples of public lavatories and shoes of facility patrons were enriched, according to ISO 11290-1. L. monocytogenes isolates were subtyped using pulsed field gel electrophoresis. A total of 24 samples were positive for Listeria spp., yielding an overall prevalence of 6.4% (24/373). L. monocytogenes was found in 2.1% (8/373) of all samples. Swabs from lavatories in parks, container lavatories and lavatories at markets had the highest prevalences of 20.7% (6/29), 20% (2/10) and 12.5% (1/8) Listeriaspp., respectively. These detection rates were statistically significantly higher than those associated with lavatories in shopping centers (p=0.003, p=0.002, p=0.02) and at public transport locations (p=0.0004, p=0.005, p=0.02). Shoes sampled at Christmas markets showed the highest Listeriaspp. and L. monocytogenesprevalences of 80% and 40%, respectively. With regard to shoe-type, Listeria spp. detection rates were 14.3% (winter boots), 13.3% (hiking boots), sport shoes (5.9%) and brogues (5.1%). No Listeriaspp. were found on shoe soles that had smooth treads (0/76), while Listeria spp. were detected on 19.5% (8/41) of medium depth tread shoe types and on 9.4% (3/32) of deep tread shoes. This data suggests that soil environment is still one of the most important reservoirs for the foodborne pathogen L. monocytogenes.
Biography (Up to 100 words)
Dr. med.vet. Dagmar Schoder is the head of the Working Group "Global Food Safety" at the Institute of Milk Hygiene, Milk Technology and Food Science of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna and President of Veterinarians without Borders Austria.
Presenting author details
Full name: Ass. Prof. Dr. Dagmar Schoder
Contact number: Tel +43 1 25077 3520; email:
Twitter account:
Linked In account:
Session name/ number:
Category: Poster presentation