Infectious diseases spread through food or beverages are a common, distressing, and sometimes life-threatening problem for millions of people in the United States and around the world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 76 million people suffer from foodborne illnesses each year in the United States, accounting for 325,000 hospitalizations and more than 5,000 deaths.
Foodborne disease is extremely costly. Health experts estimate that the yearly cost of all foodborne diseases in this country is 5 to 6 billion dollars in direct medical expenses and lost productivity.
There are more than 250 known foodborne diseases. They can be caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites. Natural and manufactured chemicals in food products also can make people sick. Some diseases are caused by toxins (poisons) from the disease-causing microbe (germ), others by the human body’s reactions to the microbe itself. To better understand the epidemiology (study of disease origin and spread) of foodborne diseases in the United States, 10 states across the country are collecting annual data on the occurrence of new cases of the most common causes of bacterial and parasitic infections through the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, a CDC-sponsored program known as FoodNet.
Recently, public health, agriculture, and environmental officials have expressed growing concern about keeping the nation’s food and water supply safe from terrorist acts of introducing foodborne microbes. A number of U.S. agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, CDC, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are studying this bioterrorism threat.
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