The CDC says that seven pathogens cause 9.9 million illnesses every year in the United States. This estimate is used to allocate resources and prioritize interventions. The seven pathogens are Campylobacter, Clostridium perfringens, invasive Listeria monocytogenes, norovirus, Salmonella, Toxoplasma gondii, and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). And those illnesses cause about 53,000 hospitalizations and 931 deaths.
Norovirus caused the most illnesses, followed by Campylobacter, and Salmonella. Salmonella infections were the leading cause of death, with 238 every year, followed by Campylobacter with 197 deaths and norovirus with 174.
The issue with this estimate is that public health reports are limited because not all people sickened by those pathogens seek medical care and are not counted in outbreak totals. For instance, the multiplier for Salmonella is 30.3, which means that for every one report of Salmonella, there are likely 30 people who have the illness but are not diagnosed.
The Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration considers four of these pathogens to be priorities: Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, nontyphoidal Salmonella, and STEC.
It makes sense that norovirus causes the most illnesses, since it is highly contagious and can be spread person-to-person, through contaminated food and drink, and through contact with fomites (solid surfaces). And most people who contract a norovirus infection do not seek medical attention, which means that the number is even higher.
The FDA and CDC will continue to concentrate on prioritizing interventions on the effect of these seven pathogens, and will work to conduct investigations more quickly using newly developed laboratory techniques, including culture-dependent syndromic panels (CIDTs). Advances in analytic methods along with this shift may have contributed to higher numbers of estimated foodborne illnesses in this study compared with estimates published in 2011.
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