The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) released a report this week covering trends in detection of foodborne illness-causing bacteria from 2012-2015, with an emphasis on comparing preliminary data available from 2015 to trends over the past three years. FoodNet is a partnership among the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 10 state health departments, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This inter-agency effort monitors population-based incidents of confirmed infection caused by nine pathogens: Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, Listeria, Salmonella, Shiga toxin-productin Escherichia coli (STEC), Shigella, Vibrio, and Yersinia. The monitoring program covers approximately 15 percent of the U.S. population, or about 49 million people in 2014.
The report states that FoodNet confirmed 20,107 cases of infection, 4,531 hospitalizations, and 77 deaths in 2015. Other than a significant increase in STEC non-0157 and Cryptosporidium cases in 2015, no significant changes were observed for other pathogens when compared with the previous 3-year averages.
The three top serotypes of Salmonella identified in the report were Typhimurium, Enteritidis, and Newport. Typhimurium incidences were significantly lower in 2015 as compared with 2012 through 2014. Enteritidis and Newport incidences were unchanged. The report speculated that this decrease may be because of the use of a live attenuated Typhimurium vaccine in poultry, and to more strict performance standards for Salmonella in poultry carcasses during processing.
The report cited that the preliminary data may be difficult to interpret as a benchmark for the population for a number of reasons, including health-care seeking behaviors of individuals and access to health care services; proportion of illnesses transmitted by non-food sources; and sensitivity of laboratory diagnostics.
A summary of the FoodNet report is available here, and a link to the complete report is available here.
