Enteric infections Outbreaks of suspected foodborne disease There were seven outbreaks of suspected foodborne disease reported in NSW in the period (two in November and five in December), affecting at least 59 people. All outbreaks were thought to be caused by contaminated restaurant food. Of the seven outbreaks, three were reported directly to Public Health Units by the treating doctors or aff...

Listeriosis is a foodborne disease that can cause severe illness manifesting as gastroenteritis or invasive disease. While it accounts for a fraction of all notified foodborne illness in New South Wales, all cases are hospitalised and outcomes are potentially serious. Listeriosis follows ingestion of the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, found in soil, water and decaying vegetation, and commonl...

Enteric infections Outbreaks of foodborne disease Ten outbreaks of suspected foodborne disease were investigated in July andAugust 2010. In three of these outbreaks (one of which occurred in an aged-care facility) stool specimens tested positive for Salmonella Typhimurium. In one, samples of the fried ice-cream that the affected people had consumed in a restaurant also tested positive for S. Ty...

Background Chemical exposures have been associated with a variety of health effects; however, little is known about the global disease burden from foodborne chemicals. Food can be a major pathway for the general population’s exposure to chemicals, and for some chemicals, it accounts for almost 100% of exposure. Methods and Findings Groups of foodborne chemicals, both natural and anthropogenic, ...

Background Chemical exposures have been associated with a variety of health effects; however, little is known about the global disease burden from foodborne chemicals. Food can be a major pathway for the general population’s exposure to chemicals, and for some chemicals, it accounts for almost 100% of exposure. Methods and Findings Groups of foodborne chemicals, both natural and anthropogenic, ...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified poor handwashing as a main factor in foodborne illness outbreaks (ServSafe, 2009). They suggested that failure to wash hands, or inadequate washing of hands, contributes to almost 50% of all foodborne illness outbreaks. We conducted an observational study of diners’ handwashing behaviors in restaurant restrooms in terms of gender, ...

From 1999 through 2005, the incidence of listeriosis in France declined from 4.5 to 3.5 cases/million persons. In 2006, it increased to 4.7 cases/million persons. Extensive epidemiologic investigations of clusters in France have ruled out the occurrence of large foodborne disease outbreaks. In addition, no increase has occurred in pregnancy-associated cases or among persons <60 years of age who...

Vol. 15 No. 1–2 2 The article by Kirk describes some of the shortfalls in foodborne disease surveillance in Australia, and argues for greater integration of surveillance information on the microbial contamination of food, animal carriage, human illness, and other hazards. Kirk cites the benefits that have been realised, in some Scandinavian countries, through the integration of surveillance inf...

conclusions parasitic contamination of fresh herbs sold in izeh may pose a health risk to consumers if eaten as unwashed or improperly washed. results parasitic pollution was detected in 3.5% of the examined samples, including cryptosporidium spp. oocyst (1.5%), giardia spp. cyst (1%), blastocystis spp. cyst (0.5%) and taenia spp. egg (0.5%). materials and methods four hundred samples of fresh ...

This paper describes the characteristics of surveillance and the attempts made in the Americas to institute truly integrated surveillance systems that bring together disease surveillance of medically treated clinical populations with disease surveillance for food-production animals. Characteristics of an ideal, integrated food safety system are described. Systematic surveillance programmes in t...