To Rich Hopkins, listeriosis is much more than dry statistics on hospitalizations and deaths attributed to the infection caused by listeria bacteria.
For him, it means the loss of his grandchild, a death that has devastated the Englewood man and his wife, Kristin, and their daughter Delaney Thompson and her husband, Blake.
Thompson, who lives in Athens and attends Ohio University, called her parents with terrible news last July.
“She said, ‘Mom, they can’t find the baby’s heartbeat,’ ” Hopkins recalled. “We were two hours away. There’s nothing you can do.”
Rich and Kristin immediately drove to the hospital in Athens, where their daughter delivered her stillborn son, Oliver. She was six months pregnant.
“It was just permeated with sadness,” said Hopkins, who is the communications manager for the city of Vandalia.
The family was told that the cause of death was listeriosis, a foodborne illness that sickens about 1,600 Americans a year, killing 260.
FoodWorld 