Background: Listeria monocytogenes usually causes mild maternal illness, but can be devastating to the fetus.
Case: Listeriosis in a pregnant patient successfully treated with empiric antibiotic therapy is described. After induced delivery, despite severe placental infection, a healthy infant was born. Additionally, archived placental specimens with similar pathological manifestation were evaluated for evidence of L. monocytogenes.
Conclusion: It is important to emphasize the value of associating maternal data and clinical and laboratory findings of the newborn with the pathologic placental findings to get better results in the etiologic diagnosis of the listeriosis.