According to Public Health France, food poisoning, or “foodborne infections”, represents approximately 1.5 million cases each year and leads to more than 17,000 hospitalizations and more than 200 deaths. The main causes of infections are viral, but Salmonella is the 1st cause of death and the 2nd of hospitalization.
The study covered the period 2008-2013, in metropolitan France, and appeared on Tuesday in the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin, the French Public Health journal. It estimated the number of annual cases of food poisoning episodes, hospitalized cases and deaths for 21 pathogens (10 bacteria, 3 viruses, 8 parasites) transmitted to humans through food. The weight of bacterial infections of digestive origin (Salmonella and Liseria) is expressed mainly in terms of hospitalization and death.
Frequency of Norovirus infections
Foodborne transmission of these infectious agents leads to some 1.5 million cases of food poisoning (between 1.28 and 2.23 million), 17,000 hospitalizations (between 15,800 and 21,200) and more than 200 deaths (between 232 and 358), according to this study. A level of intoxication and mortality which “remains high” according to the authors of the study.
The study also looked at the germs that are responsible for these food poisonings. In France, the majority of infections (over 70%) are due to viruses (mainly norovirus and hepatitis A and E viruses) and bacteria only represent 18% of infections (mainly Campylobacter and Salmonella) ; parasites complete the picture (Tenia and Toxoplasmosis).
Hospitalizations: importance of bacteria
On the other hand, if we look at hospitalizations for foodborne infection, we see that if viruses remain predominant (57% with especially Noroviruses), the percentage of bacteria involvement increases markedly with 33% (Campylobacter et al. Salmonella).
Mortality: predominance of Salmonella
Finally, if we are interested in mortality, bacteria hold the upper hand with 182 deaths and 2 bacteria represent the majority of cases. These are on the one hand, “non-typhoid” Salmonella (n = 62) and Listeria (n = 47). The bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, which represents less than 0.1% of poisonings, ranks second in terms of mortality (65 deaths, or 25% of the total number of deaths), just behind salmonella (26% of the total), note the authors.
Viruses are responsible for 91 deaths (mainly Norovirus but also hepatitis A and E) especially in children.
Repeated poisoning and risk of inflammatory disease
According to a recent study published by the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Disvorery Institute in the journal Science, repeated infections could cause chronic inflammatory bowel or colon disease. The study lasted almost eight years. Researchers have developed a model of human-like food poisoning in healthy mice.
Each mouse received a dose of Salmonella-type bacteria, which causes salmonellosis, one of the main infectious food-borne diseases. The dose of salmonella was very low and life-threatening, but inflammation appeared and increased in all mice with repeated poisoning. The researchers also found that even by stopping causing these infections, the inflammation did not go away. The damage was done. Inflammatory disease of the colon and intestine was launched.
Prevention of food poisoning
The Lactalis case shows that we cannot always protect ourselves against foodborne salmonella infections but, nevertheless, we can reduce the risk of infections by respecting the cold chain. Meats should be cooked for at least 5-6 minutes until an internal temperature is above 65 ° C.
To protect yourself from listeriosis, you must wash vegetables and aromatic herbs well, and food must be cooked until the internal temperature is also above 65 ° C. Pregnant women should also avoid foods frequently contaminated by Listeria such as raw milk cheeses, especially soft cheeses, the rinds of cheeses in general, smoked fish, raw shellfish and cold meats.
Noroviruses are resistant to cold and temperature (30 min at 60 ° C) and are found in food contaminated by an infected person and in shellfish … which should be avoided if they do not come from ” an authorized and controlled breeding area
This very high frequency of food poisoning of bacterial origin, with the weight of Salmonella infections, is a real public health problem in the short term, but also in the long term.
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