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Foodborne illness acquired in the United States--unspecified agents

Elaine Scallan1, Patricia M Griffin, Frederick J Angulo

  • 1Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. elaine.scallan@ucdenver.edu

Emerging Infectious Diseases
|January 4, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Unspecified agents cause millions of foodborne illnesses annually in the US. These unknown or poorly understood pathogens lead to an estimated 38.4 million foodborne illnesses, resulting in significant hospitalizations and deaths.

Area of Science:

  • Foodborne illness epidemiology
  • Microbial risk assessment
  • Public health surveillance

Background:

  • 31 major known pathogens cause 9.4 million foodborne illnesses yearly in the US.
  • Additional illnesses stem from unspecified agents, including those with limited data or unproven pathogenicity.
  • Acute gastroenteritis is a significant public health concern with multiple causative agents.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To estimate the burden of foodborne illness caused by unspecified agents in the United States.
  • To quantify hospitalizations and deaths attributed to these unspecified foodborne pathogens.
  • To provide a more comprehensive understanding of the total foodborne illness landscape.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from surveys, hospital records, and death certificates.
  • Estimated total illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths from acute gastroenteritis.
  • Subtracted illnesses attributed to known gastroenteritis pathogens to isolate those from unspecified agents.
  • Assumed similar domestic foodborne transmission proportions for unspecified agents as for known pathogens.

Main Results:

  • An estimated 38.4 million episodes of domestically acquired foodborne illness were caused by unspecified agents.
  • These illnesses resulted in 71,878 hospitalizations.
  • An estimated 1,686 deaths were linked to foodborne illness from unspecified agents.

Conclusions:

  • Unspecified agents represent a substantial, underestimated burden of foodborne illness in the US.
  • Further research is needed to identify and characterize these agents to mitigate public health risks.
  • Current estimates highlight the importance of broad food safety measures beyond known pathogens.

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