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CDC: Norovirus, salmonella leading causes of foodborne illnesses

ATLANTA Norovirus and salmonella were the leading causes of foodborne disease outbreaks in 2006, the most recent year for which such data are available, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were 1,270 reported foodborne disease outbreaks in 2006, which resulted in 27,634 illnesses and 11 deaths, said a recent report from the CDC’s OutbreakNet team. The team said that among those 1,270 outbreaks, 621 had a confirmed single cause, and the cause was most often norovirus, which was associated with 54 percent of those incidents. Salmonella, the second leading cause, was linked to 18 percent of the outbreaks.

The analysis was done on data from the 243 outbreaks in which a single food commodity was identified and reported to CDC.

The CDC said the food commodity with the largest number of cases of illness in 2006 was poultry, which was tied to 21 percent of all outbreak-associated cases. Leafy vegetables were associated with 17 percent of the outbreak-associated cases, and fruits and nuts were implicated in 16 percent.

“Determining the proportion of outbreak-associated cases of foodborne illness due to the various food commodities is an important step,” said Patricia M. Griffin, chief of the CDC's Enteric Diseases Epidemiology Branch. “Identification of particular food commodities that have caused outbreaks can help public health officials and the food industry to target control efforts from the farm to the table.”

However, Griffin cautioned that while the new report is useful, only a small proportion of foodborne illnesses occur as part of recognized outbreaks. Moreover, some outbreaks are not detected, investigated, or reported because many states lack the resources to perform the work, CDC officials noted.

The food commodity categories defined by CDC are fish, crustaceans, mollusks, dairy, eggs, beef, game, pork, poultry, grains-beans, oils-sugars, fruits-nuts, fungi, leafy vegetables, root vegetables, sprouts, and vegetables from a vine or stalk.

Foodborne outbreaks of norovirus occur most often when infected food handlers do not wash their hands properly after using the toilet. Foodborne outbreaks of salmonella occur most often when foods that have been contaminated with animal feces are eaten raw or insufficiently cooked.

The full report, “Surveillance for Foodborne Disease Outbreaks – United States, 2006” appears in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and is available online at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr.

To learn more about foodborne illness, visit CDC websites, such as http://www.cdc.gov/foodborneoutbreaks/.

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