Foodborne diseases are important worldwide, resulting in considerable morbidity and mortality. To our knowledge, we present the first global and regional estimates of the disease burden of the most ...important foodborne bacterial, protozoal, and viral diseases.
We synthesized data on the number of foodborne illnesses, sequelae, deaths, and Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), for all diseases with sufficient data to support global and regional estimates, by age and region. The data sources included varied by pathogen and included systematic reviews, cohort studies, surveillance studies and other burden of disease assessments. We sought relevant data circa 2010, and included sources from 1990-2012. The number of studies per pathogen ranged from as few as 5 studies for bacterial intoxications through to 494 studies for diarrheal pathogens. To estimate mortality for Mycobacterium bovis infections and morbidity and mortality for invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica infections, we excluded cases attributed to HIV infection. We excluded stillbirths in our estimates. We estimate that the 22 diseases included in our study resulted in two billion (95% uncertainty interval UI 1.5-2.9 billion) cases, over one million (95% UI 0.89-1.4 million) deaths, and 78.7 million (95% UI 65.0-97.7 million) DALYs in 2010. To estimate the burden due to contaminated food, we then applied proportions of infections that were estimated to be foodborne from a global expert elicitation. Waterborne transmission of disease was not included. We estimate that 29% (95% UI 23-36%) of cases caused by diseases in our study, or 582 million (95% UI 401-922 million), were transmitted by contaminated food, resulting in 25.2 million (95% UI 17.5-37.0 million) DALYs. Norovirus was the leading cause of foodborne illness causing 125 million (95% UI 70-251 million) cases, while Campylobacter spp. caused 96 million (95% UI 52-177 million) foodborne illnesses. Of all foodborne diseases, diarrheal and invasive infections due to non-typhoidal S. enterica infections resulted in the highest burden, causing 4.07 million (95% UI 2.49-6.27 million) DALYs. Regionally, DALYs per 100,000 population were highest in the African region followed by the South East Asian region. Considerable burden of foodborne disease is borne by children less than five years of age. Major limitations of our study include data gaps, particularly in middle- and high-mortality countries, and uncertainty around the proportion of diseases that were foodborne.
Foodborne diseases result in a large disease burden, particularly in children. Although it is known that diarrheal diseases are a major burden in children, we have demonstrated for the first time the importance of contaminated food as a cause. There is a need to focus food safety interventions on preventing foodborne diseases, particularly in low- and middle-income settings.
Illness and death from diseases caused by contaminated food are a constant threat to public health and a significant impediment to socio-economic development worldwide. To measure the global and ...regional burden of foodborne disease (FBD), the World Health Organization (WHO) established the Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG), which here reports their first estimates of the incidence, mortality, and disease burden due to 31 foodborne hazards. We find that the global burden of FBD is comparable to those of the major infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The most frequent causes of foodborne illness were diarrheal disease agents, particularly norovirus and Campylobacter spp. Diarrheal disease agents, especially non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica, were also responsible for the majority of deaths due to FBD. Other major causes of FBD deaths were Salmonella Typhi, Taenia solium and hepatitis A virus. The global burden of FBD caused by the 31 hazards in 2010 was 33 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs); children under five years old bore 40% of this burden. The 14 subregions, defined on the basis of child and adult mortality, had considerably different burdens of FBD, with the greatest falling on the subregions in Africa, followed by the subregions in South-East Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean D subregion. Some hazards, such as non-typhoidal S. enterica, were important causes of FBD in all regions of the world, whereas others, such as certain parasitic helminths, were highly localised. Thus, the burden of FBD is borne particularly by children under five years old-although they represent only 9% of the global population-and people living in low-income regions of the world. These estimates are conservative, i.e., underestimates rather than overestimates; further studies are needed to address the data gaps and limitations of the study. Nevertheless, all stakeholders can contribute to improvements in food safety throughout the food chain by incorporating these estimates into policy development at national and international levels.
The Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG) was established in 2007 by the World Health Organization (WHO) to estimate the global burden of foodborne diseases (FBDs). This ...estimation is complicated because most of the hazards causing FBD are not transmitted solely by food; most have several potential exposure routes consisting of transmission from animals, by humans, and via environmental routes including water. This paper describes an expert elicitation study conducted by the FERG Source Attribution Task Force to estimate the relative contribution of food to the global burden of diseases commonly transmitted through the consumption of food.
We applied structured expert judgment using Cooke's Classical Model to obtain estimates for 14 subregions for the relative contributions of different transmission pathways for eleven diarrheal diseases, seven other infectious diseases and one chemical (lead). Experts were identified through international networks followed by social network sampling. Final selection of experts was based on their experience including international working experience. Enrolled experts were scored on their ability to judge uncertainty accurately and informatively using a series of subject-matter specific 'seed' questions whose answers are unknown to the experts at the time they are interviewed. Trained facilitators elicited the 5th, and 50th and 95th percentile responses to seed questions through telephone interviews. Cooke's Classical Model uses responses to the seed questions to weigh and aggregate expert responses. After this interview, the experts were asked to provide 5th, 50th, and 95th percentile estimates for the 'target' questions regarding disease transmission routes. A total of 72 experts were enrolled in the study. Ten panels were global, meaning that the experts should provide estimates for all 14 subregions, whereas the nine panels were subregional, with experts providing estimates for one or more subregions, depending on their experience in the region. The size of the 19 hazard-specific panels ranged from 6 to 15 persons with several experts serving on more than one panel. Pathogens with animal reservoirs (e.g. non-typhoidal Salmonella spp. and Toxoplasma gondii) were in general assessed by the experts to have a higher proportion of illnesses attributable to food than pathogens with mainly a human reservoir, where human-to-human transmission (e.g. Shigella spp. and Norovirus) or waterborne transmission (e.g. Salmonella Typhi and Vibrio cholerae) were judged to dominate. For many pathogens, the foodborne route was assessed relatively more important in developed subregions than in developing subregions. The main exposure routes for lead varied across subregions, with the foodborne route being assessed most important only in two subregions of the European region.
For the first time, we present worldwide estimates of the proportion of specific diseases attributable to food and other major transmission routes. These findings are essential for global burden of FBD estimates. While gaps exist, we believe the estimates presented here are the best current source of guidance to support decision makers when allocating resources for control and intervention, and for future research initiatives.
Foodborne diseases are globally important, resulting in considerable morbidity and mortality. Parasitic diseases often result in high burdens of disease in low and middle income countries and are ...frequently transmitted to humans via contaminated food. This study presents the first estimates of the global and regional human disease burden of 10 helminth diseases and toxoplasmosis that may be attributed to contaminated food.
Data were abstracted from 16 systematic reviews or similar studies published between 2010 and 2015; from 5 disease data bases accessed in 2015; and from 79 reports, 73 of which have been published since 2000, 4 published between 1995 and 2000 and 2 published in 1986 and 1981. These included reports from national surveillance systems, journal articles, and national estimates of foodborne diseases. These data were used to estimate the number of infections, sequelae, deaths, and Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), by age and region for 2010. These parasitic diseases, resulted in 48.4 million cases (95% Uncertainty intervals UI of 43.4-79.0 million) and 59,724 (95% UI 48,017-83,616) deaths annually resulting in 8.78 million (95% UI 7.62-12.51 million) DALYs. We estimated that 48% (95% UI 38%-56%) of cases of these parasitic diseases were foodborne, resulting in 76% (95% UI 65%-81%) of the DALYs attributable to these diseases. Overall, foodborne parasitic disease, excluding enteric protozoa, caused an estimated 23.2 million (95% UI 18.2-38.1 million) cases and 45,927 (95% UI 34,763-59,933) deaths annually resulting in an estimated 6.64 million (95% UI 5.61-8.41 million) DALYs. Foodborne Ascaris infection (12.3 million cases, 95% UI 8.29-22.0 million) and foodborne toxoplasmosis (10.3 million cases, 95% UI 7.40-14.9 million) were the most common foodborne parasitic diseases. Human cysticercosis with 2.78 million DALYs (95% UI 2.14-3.61 million), foodborne trematodosis with 2.02 million DALYs (95% UI 1.65-2.48 million) and foodborne toxoplasmosis with 825,000 DALYs (95% UI 561,000-1.26 million) resulted in the highest burdens in terms of DALYs, mainly due to years lived with disability. Foodborne enteric protozoa, reported elsewhere, resulted in an additional 67.2 million illnesses or 492,000 DALYs. Major limitations of our study include often substantial data gaps that had to be filled by imputation and suffer from the uncertainties that surround such models. Due to resource limitations it was also not possible to consider all potentially foodborne parasites (for example Trypanosoma cruzi).
Parasites are frequently transmitted to humans through contaminated food. These estimates represent an important step forward in understanding the impact of foodborne diseases globally and regionally. The disease burden due to most foodborne parasites is highly focal and results in significant morbidity and mortality among vulnerable populations.
Diarrhoeal diseases are major contributors to the global burden of disease, particularly in children. However, comprehensive estimates of the incidence and mortality due to specific aetiologies of ...diarrhoeal diseases are not available. The objective of this study is to provide estimates of the global and regional incidence and mortality of diarrhoeal diseases caused by nine pathogens that are commonly transmitted through foods.
We abstracted data from systematic reviews and, depending on the overall mortality rates of the country, applied either a national incidence estimate approach or a modified Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG) approach to estimate the aetiology-specific incidence and mortality of diarrhoeal diseases, by age and region. The nine diarrhoeal diseases assessed caused an estimated 1.8 billion (95% uncertainty interval UI 1.1-3.3 billion) cases and 599,000 (95% UI 472,000-802,000) deaths worldwide in 2010. The largest number of cases were caused by norovirus (677 million; 95% UI 468-1,153 million), enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) (233 million; 95% UI 154-380 million), Shigella spp. (188 million; 95% UI 94-379 million) and Giardia lamblia (179 million; 95% UI 125-263); the largest number of deaths were caused by norovirus (213,515; 95% UI 171,783-266,561), enteropathogenic E. coli (121,455; 95% UI 103,657-143,348), ETEC (73,041; 95% UI 55,474-96,984) and Shigella (64,993; 95% UI 48,966-92,357). There were marked regional differences in incidence and mortality for these nine diseases. Nearly 40% of cases and 43% of deaths caused by these nine diarrhoeal diseases occurred in children under five years of age.
Diarrhoeal diseases caused by these nine pathogens are responsible for a large disease burden, particularly in children. These aetiology-specific burden estimates can inform efforts to reduce diarrhoeal diseases caused by these nine pathogens commonly transmitted through foods.
Animal source foods (ASF) such as dairy, eggs, fish and meat are an important source of high-quality nutrients. Lack of ASF in diets can result in developmental disorders including stunting, anemia, ...poor cognitive and motor development. ASF are more effective in preventing stunting than other foods and promoting ASF consumption in low- and middle-income countries could help improve health, particularly among pregnant women and young children. Production and consumption of ASF are, however, also associated with potential food safety risks. Strengthening of food control systems, informed by quantitative assessments of the disease burden associated with ASF is necessary to meet global nutrition goals. We present the human disease burden associated with 13 pathogens (bacteria and parasites) in ASF, based on an analysis of global burden of foodborne disease (FBD) estimates of the WHO Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG). The FBD burden of these pathogens was combined with estimates of the proportion of disease transmitted by eight main groups of ASF. Uncertainty in all estimates was accounted for by Monte Carlo simulation. In 2010, the global burden of ASF was 168 (95% uncertainty interval (UI 137-219) Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) per 100,000 population, which is approximately 35% of the estimated total burden of FBD. Main pathogens contributing to this burden included non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica, Taenia solium, and Campylobacter spp. The proportion of FBD burden associated with ASF varied considerably between subregions and between countries within subregions. Likewise, the contribution of different pathogens and ASF groups varied strongly between subregions. Pathogens with a localized distribution included T. solium and fishborne trematodes. Pathogens with a global distribution included non-typhoidal S. enterica, Campylobacter spp., Toxoplasma gondii, and Mycobacterium bovis. Control methods exist for many hazards associated with ASF, and their implementation is linked to economic development and effective food safety systems.
Salmonella is a key cause of foodborne gastroenteritis in Australia and case numbers are increasing. We used negative binomial regression to analyze national surveillance data for 2000-2013, for ...Salmonella Typhimurium and non-Typhimurium Salmonella serovars. We estimated incidence rate ratios adjusted for sex and age to show trends over time. Almost all states and territories had significantly increasing trends of reported infection for S. Typhimurium, with states and territories reporting annual increases as high as 12% (95% confidence interval 10-14%) for S. Typhimurium in the Australian Capital Territory and 6% (95% CI 5-7%) for non-Typhimurium Salmonella in Victoria. S. Typhimurium notification rates were higher than non-Typhimurium Salmonella rates in most age groups in the south eastern states of Australia, while non-Typhimurium rates were higher in most age groups elsewhere. The S. Typhimurium notification rate peaked at 12-23 months of age and the non-Typhimurium Salmonella notification rate peaked at 0-11 months of age. The age-specific pattern of S. Typhimurium cases suggests a foodborne origin, while the age and geographic pattern for non-Typhimurium may indicate that other transmission routes play a key role for these serovars.
...they are not widely available in low-resource areas where epidemiologic information on the etiology of febrile illness is sparse. Estimating Incidence To accurately estimate disease incidence, ...studies require a population-based design with complete capture of cases, or an accurate estimate of under-ascertainment and laboratory confirmation of cases, to avoid the misclassification of conditions that cannot be reliably distinguished clinically. Because conducting such research is time-consuming and expensive, eligible incidence studies are rare, particularly for under-resourced or neglected diseases.
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and distribution of
species in a variety of fresh and frozen meat and offal products collected from retail outlets in New South Wales (NSW), ...Queensland (Qld), and Victoria (Vic). A total of 1,490 chicken, beef, lamb, and pork samples were collected from Australian supermarkets and butcher shops over a 2-year sampling period (October 2016 to October 2018).
spp. were detected in 90% of chicken meat and 73% of chicken offal products (giblet and liver), with significantly lower prevalence in lamb (38%), pork (31%), and beef (14%) offal (kidney and liver). Although retail chicken meat was frequently contaminated with
the level of contamination was generally low. Where quantitative analysis was conducted, 98% of chicken meat samples, on average, had <10,000 CFU
per carcass, with 10% <21 CFU per carcass.
was the most frequently recovered species in chicken meat collected in NSW (53%) and Vic (56%) and in chicken offal collected in NSW (77%), Qld (59%), and Vic (58%). In beef, lamb, and pork offal,
was generally the most common species (50 to 86%), with the exception of pork offal collected in NSW, where
was more prevalent (69%).
prevalence was significantly higher in fresh lamb (46%) and pork (31%) offal than in frozen offal (17 and 11%, respectively). For chicken, beef, and pork offal, the prevalence of
spp. was significantly higher on delicatessen products compared with prepackaged products. This study demonstrated that meat and offal products are frequently contaminated with
. However, the prevalence is markedly different in different meats, and the level of chicken meat portion contamination is generally low. By identifying the types of meat and offal products types that pose the greatest risk of
infection to consumers, targeted control strategies can be developed.
COVID-19 and investment in applied epidemiology Griffith, Matthew Myers; Parry, Amy Elizabeth; Housen, Tambri ...
Bulletin of the World Health Organization,
07/2022, Letnik:
100, Številka:
7
Journal Article