Lebensmittelbedingte Krankheitsausbrüche, Österreich 2007

Abstract

In 2007 Austria reported a total of 438 foodborne outbreaks affecting 1715 people, including 286 hospitalized patients and one death. Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp. accounted for 95% of all reported outbreaks. Forty-eight (11%) of the 438 Austrian outbreaks were acquired abroad. Of the 390 domestically acquired foodborne outbreaks, bacterial infection caused 376, viruses (norovirus and 1-time hepatitis A virus) caused 11, and intoxications (Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxins, alkaloid toxins) caused two. In one outbreak the causative agent was unknown. Salmonella spp. caused 264 (70%) of the bacterial outbreaks, Campylobacter spp. caused 104 (28%), enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC O145:H-, O157:H-, O157:H7, O182: H49, O91:H7, ONT:H4) caused six, Shigella flexneri and Shigella sonnei each caused two. The hospitalization rates were 22% for domestically acquired infections with Salmonella spp. and 14% for Campylobacter spp. Among outbreaks where the source was known, eggs were implicated in 49%, meat products (especially poultry) in 44% and fish in 2%. The ratio of household outbreaks to general outbreaks was 82.3% to 17.7%. In 54 of the 62 general domestic outbreaks the following locations of exposure were documented: commercial food suppliers (e.g. restaurants, cafeterias) 24 times, family celebrations, nursery schools, take-aways and barbecues 22 times, nursing homes and hospitals eight times. It is likely that the relatively high number of household outbreaks reflects an insufficient level of epidemiological investigation of outbreaks in Austria. More resources may be needed for identification of individual clusters that belong to larger foodborne outbreaks exceeding district or provincial borders.

Staphylococcal Enterotoxins

“…WHO pointed out in 2003 that the best approach to reduce the number of food poisoning-related disease outbreaks are preventative measures and treatments against SEs [108]. The preventive measures include stricter food control, hand and environmental hygiene, identification and isolation of carriers, and proper S. aureus antibiotic therapy [109,110,111,112]. …”

Prevalence of Bacteria and Absence of Anisakid Parasites in Raw and Prepared Fish and Seafood Dishes in Spanish Restaurants

“…However, fish and fish products are know n as possible vehicles for parasites and m icroorganism s. Infec tion and contam ination are introduced principally when fish are caught, during processing, and during preparation o f fish and seafood by food handlers and restaurateurs. M icrobi ological outbreaks have been associated with fish consum p tion in A ustria (30), A rgentina (36), A ustralia (32,33), M exico (34), Panam a (26), the United K ingdom (45), and the United States (15,38). M oreover, more than 30,000 cases o f hum an anisakidosis have been reported w orldwide, mainly in Japan, the United States, and European coastal regions, areas where consum ption o f raw or undercooked fish and cephalopods is com m on (1,18).…”

Role of Predictive Microbiology in Food Preservation

“…Pathogen species such as Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes or Clostridium botulinum, among others, cause thousands of outbreaks of food diseases each year around the world due to poorly processed foods, both in developing and developed countries (Much et al, 2009;Minami et al, 2010;Newell et al, 2010). In addition, spoilage microorganisms can alter the appearance and flavour of foods and beverages, which originate the rejection of the product by consumers with the consequent loss of money.…”