The authors respond

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 50, No. 9, November 2008, Page 493 Letters
By: Eleni Galanis, MD, MPH, FRCPC Marsha Taylor, MSc, Olga Bitzikos, BASc, CPHIC,

The authors would like to apologize to both the patient and her health care providers for any distress our actions may have caused. We apologize for publishing a case report in which the person described recognized herself, and for inadvertently presenting inaccurate information on the counseling re­ceived by the case. 

The description of the case was meant to highlight recent cases of listeriosis in pregnancy in BC, and increase the level of awareness of listeriosis, emphasizing the adverse consequences of exposure to high-risk foods. The risk of listeriosis in pregnancy can be minimized if certain precautions are taken. Pregnant women should be aware that, due to its high moisture content, the consumption of any soft cheese, whether pasteurized or not, can be a risk for listeriosis. Listeria are found in the environment throughout the world. Travelers should follow the same precautions they do at home, including washing raw produce with treated water and consuming produce that has been cooked or peeled. The purpose of the article was to re­mind health care providers of the precautions that can be used to counsel their pregnant clients to minimize the risk of infection. 

BCCDC and its partners are committed to ensuring client confidentiality and continuous quality improvement. We are currently in the process of reviewing the situation and will take steps to prevent a recurrence.

—Eleni Galanis, MD 
—Marsha Taylor, MSc
—Olga Bitzikos, BASc 

The BCMJ is also working on implementing a patient consent process to prevent this in the future.—ED

Eleni Galanis, MD, MPH, FRCPC, Marsha Taylor, MSc,, Olga Bitzikos, BASc, CPHIC,. The authors respond. BCMJ, Vol. 50, No. 9, November, 2008, Page(s) 493 - Letters.


Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

An alternate version of ICMJE style is to additionally list the month an issue number, but since most journals use continuous pagination, the shorter form provides sufficient information to locate the reference. The NLM now lists all authors.

BCMJ standard citation style is a slight modification of the ICMJE/NLM style, as follows:

  • Only the first three authors are listed, followed by "et al."
  • There is no period after the journal name.
  • Page numbers are not abbreviated.


For more information on the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, visit www.icmje.org

BCMJ Guidelines for Authors

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