Foodborne infections and intoxications in Poland in 2016

The purpose of this study is to assess the epidemiological situation of food poisonings and infections in Poland in 2016.

The evaluation was based on the analysis of information sent to Department of Epidemiology NIPH-NIH through ROE (Pol. Rejestr Ognisk Epidemicznych)- (an electronic system created for uploading, transfer and analysis of data acquired during the outbreak investigations). Additional sources for the analysis were NIPH-NIH annual bulletins (Czarkowski MP et al. “Infectious diseases and poisonings in Poland”, 2010-2016. Warsaw, NIPH-NIH and GIS).

In 2016 a total number of 680 foodborne infections and intoxications outbreaks were reported in which 22 908 persons were exposed and 7 186 (out of which 38% were children up to 14 years of age) got sick. Hospitalization was required for 1 603 of patients. The most frequent etiological agent was Salmonella sp. – 37,6%, 3 and 28,4% of cases). Viruses were responsible for 22,5% of outbreaks and 28,6 % of cases (And among them rotaviruses- 10,8% of outbreaks and 5,2% of cases and noroviruses- 11,1% of outbreaks and 23,3% of cases). In 27,5% of outbreaks no etiological agent was found. Just as in 2015 private household was the most frequent place of an outbreak- 323 outbreaks (47,5%), and after that- hospital- 135 outbreaks (19,9%). In 2016 in more than 81% of outbreaks no vehicle was found and in remaining the most frequent vehicle were eggs and egg products) (25% of outbreaks of known vehicle).

The increase in the both percentage of reported salmonellosis cases among the group of bacterial foodborne infections and the increase of foodborne outbreaks of Salmonella Enteritidis etiology along with the fact of the occurrence of large, multistate outbreak of this etiology with Polish eggs as a vehicle indicates an alarming situation and the necessity of microbiological surveillance enchantment in relation to abovementioned products. Moreover an increase in the percentage of unknown etiology outbreaks, in which clinical symptoms of cases suggest viral etiology indicates the need for more frequent testing oriented for those pathogens during epidemiological investigations.