What Is Foodborne Illness (disease, infection)?
CDC estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) gets sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. The 2011 estimates provide the most accurate picture yet of which foodborne bacteria, viruses, microbes (“pathogens”) are causing the most illnesses in the United States, as well as estimating the number of foodborne illnesses without a known cause.
Foodborne illness (sometimes called "foodborne disease," "foodborne infection," or "food poisoning) is a common, costly—yet preventable—public health problem. Each year, 1 in 6 Americans gets sick by consuming contaminated foods or beverages. Many different disease-causing microbes, or pathogens, can contaminate foods, so there are many different foodborne infections. In addition, poisonous chemicals, or other harmful substances can cause foodborne diseases if they are present in food.
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More than 250 different foodborne diseases have been described. Most of these diseases are infections, caused by a variety of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can be foodborne.
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Other diseases are poisonings, caused by harmful toxins or chemicals that have contaminated the food, for example, poisonous mushrooms.
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These different diseases have many different symptoms, so there is no one "syndrome" that is foodborne illness. However, the microbe or toxin enters the body through the gastrointestinal tract, and often causes the first symptoms there, so nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea are common symptoms in many foodborne diseases.
Many microbes can spread in more than one way, so we cannot always know that a disease is foodborne. The distinction matters, because public health authorities need to know how a particular disease is spreading to take the appropriate steps to stop it.
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For example, Escherichia coliO157:H7 infections can spread through contaminated food, contaminated drinking water, contaminated swimming water, and from toddler to toddler at a day care center. Depending on which means of spread caused a case, the measures to stop other cases from occurring could range from removing contaminated food from stores, chlorinating a swimming pool, or closing a child day care center.
What are the most common foodborne diseases?
According to CDC's 2011 Estimates for Foodborne Illness eight known pathogens account for the vast majority of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths. Eight known pathogens account for the vast majority of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths, with Novovirus, Salmonella, Clostridium, Campylobacter, and Staphylococcus aureus being the top five pathogens causing illness, hospitalization, and death. Eight known pathogens account for the vast majority of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths.
Top five pathogens contributing to domestically acquired foodborne illnesses:
Pathogen |
Estimated number of illnesses |
90% Credible Interval |
% |
5,461,731 |
3,227,078–8,309,480 |
58 |
|
Salmonella, nontyphoidal |
1,027,561 |
644,786–1,679,667 |
11 |
965,958 |
192,316–2,483,309 |
10 |
|
845,024 |
337,031–1,611,083 |
9 |
|
241,148 |
72,341–529,417 |
3 |
|
Subtotal |
|
|
91 |
Top five pathogens contributing to domestically acquired food borne illnesses resulting in hospitalization
Pathogen |
Estimated number of hospitalizations |
90% Credible Interval |
% |
Salmonella, nontyphoidal |
19,336 |
8,545–37,490 |
35 |
14,663 |
8,097–23,323 |
26 |
|
8,463 |
4,300–15,227 |
15 |
|
4,428 |
3,060–7,146 |
8 |
|
2,138 |
549–4,614 |
4 |
|
Subtotal |
|
|
88 |
Top five pathogens contributing to domestically acquired food borne illnesses resulting in death:
Pathogen |
Estimated number of deaths |
90% Credible Interval |
% |
Salmonella, nontyphoidal |
378 |
0–1,011 |
28 |
327 |
200–482 |
24 |
|
255 |
0–733 |
19 |
|
149 |
84–237 |
11 |
|
76 |
0–332 |
6 |
|
Subtotal |
|
|
88 |
