Report: Social media could enhance foodborne outbreak detection
31 Jan. 2012
Food Quality News [edited] [BITES]
http://www.foodqualitynews.com/Innovation/Social-media-could-enhance-foodborne-outbreak-detection-report
According to a recent report, social media programs could be utilized as a tool in the surveillance of foodborne disease outbreaks. According to the research paper, The Potential Capability of Social Media as a Component of Food Safety and Food Terrorism Surveillance Systems, food safety authorities around the world could take advantage of social media platforms in the fight against foodborne outbreaks. According to the report, there are three main advantages to the use of social media as a surveillance system – timeliness, representativeness and the self-identification of outbreaks.

WHO: world is prone to foodborne disease outbreaks
13 Oct. 2011
Barfblog [edited] [BITES]
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/150888/11/10/13/who-says-world-prone-foodborne-disease-outbreaks
The world has become more vulnerable to outbreaks of disease caused by contaminated food because of growing global trade, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated on Thursday. Investigating these outbreaks has also become more difficult because food can contain ingredients from around the world and is transported through a complex global supply chain. Outbreaks of foodborne disease have become an especially large menace in a world according to the WHO director-general.

EU- E. COLI O104 UPDATE and Korean strain
15 July 2011
ECDC [edited] [ProMed]
As July 15th, the number of probable and confirmed STEC cases in the EU/EEA is 3,908. This includes 765 HUS STEC cases and 3,143 non-HUS STEC cases. Beginning in early May 2011, an outbreak caused by Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O104:H4 was reported in Germany and other countries in Europe. In this outbreak, the number of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) cases has been unusually high. A case of HUS caused by E. coli O104:H4 was 1st reported in South Korea in 2004. Because infections caused by this strain have been reported rarely, interest has arisen in the O104:H4 strain from South Korea.
Related Stories:
EU- E. COLI O104 UPDATES
11 July 2011
European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) [edited] [ProMed]
As of July 11, 2011 the cumulative number of non-HUS [hemolytic uremic syndrome] STEC [Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli] cases in the EU is 3,041 including 16 deaths, and 757 HUS STEC cases, including 28 deaths. In Germany, since July 8th, 5 HUS STEC cases and 13 non-HUS STEC cases have been newly reported. Four HUS STEC cases and 12 non-HUS STEC cases fell ill within the last 10 days (29 June - 8 July).
France- E. COLI VTEC in GROUND BEEF
6 July 2011
Romandie News, Agence France-Presse (AFP) [edited] [ProMed]
On July 6, 2011, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) stated that 4 new patients, including a baby in a coma, were admitted to a hospital. The ARS reported that food and microbiological investigations are under way to determine whether this is an infection by the bacterium E. coli.
European Union- E. COLI O104 UPDATE and France cases
28 Jun 2011
ECDC [edited] [ProMed]
In the EU/EEA, 885 HUS [hemolytic uremic syndrome] cases, including 31 deaths, and 3138 non-HUS cases, including 17 deaths have been reported. On Friday, June 24th, France reported a cluster of patients with bloody diarrhea, who had participated in an event on the 8th of June 2011. As of June 27th, 9 people have been hospitalized and 8 of these people have developed HUS. The French authorities are investigating this new cluster. Six of the cases reported having eaten sprouts at the event and leftovers are currently being analyzed. Thorough investigations are now being carried out to determine the suspected vehicle of infection for the cases reported in the French cluster, and whether there is any link between that cluster and the large outbreak reported from Germany.
France- E. COLI Outbreak
25 Jun 2011
BBC News UK [edited] [ProMed]
Officials are investigating a possible link between seeds sold by a UK firm and an outbreak of Escherichia coli infection in France. A local news agency reported that 10 people have been affected by E. coli in Bordeaux. It is thought a number of them had eaten vegetable sprouts, which are believed to have been grown from seeds sold by a particular company. The United Kingdom based company told BBC it had no evidence of a link. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) reported no E. coli cases had been reported in the UK. FSA is advising that all sprouts only be eaten if cooked until steaming hot. Seven of those affected by the E. coli outbreak, ate sprouts at a country fair and needed to be treated at a hospital.
European Union- E. COLI O104 UPDATES
23 Jun 2011
ECDC [edited] [ProMed]
News since June 22nd: 862 HUS [hemolytic uremic syndrome] cases, including 30 deaths, and 2930 non-HUS cases, including 13 deaths, have been reported. On the 22nd of June, Germany reported 8 additional HUS cases and 2 new HUS deaths. It also reports 79 additional non-HUS STEC cases and 1 new non-HUS death. Sweden reported 3 additional non-HUS STEC cases (persons who visited Germany mid-May). Total cases: 3792 with 43 deaths, which is a 1.13% case fatality rate.
EU -E. COLI O104 UPDATE
21 Jun 2011
ECDC [edited] [ProMed]
In the EU/EEA, 849 HUS cases, including 28 deaths, and 2744 non-HUS cases, including 12 deaths, have been reported so far. On Monday, the 20th of June, Germany reported 12 new HUS cases and 2 new HUS deaths. It also reported 74 new non-HUS STEC cases. One STEC death has been removed as it was identified as data entry error.
WHO update in EHEC outbreak
17 June 2011 WHO [edited] [ProMed]
Over the last week, the number of reported cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) has declined significantly. In Germany, the daily numbers of reported cases have steadily decreased since they peaked, on 21 May 2011 for HUS and on 22 and 23 May 2011 for EHEC.
EU- E. COLI O104 Case Update, Organism
15 June 2011
ECDC [edited] [ProMed]
In the EU/EEA, 821 HUS cases, including 24 deaths, and 2530 non-HUS cases, including 13 deaths, have been reported so far. On the 15th of June, Germany reported 2 new HUS cases and 17 new non-HUS STEC cases, along with a new HUS death. In Luxembourg, one STEC case recently developed HUS.
EU- E. COLI O104 CASE UPDATE, ANTIMICROBIAL USE
13 June 2011
ECDC [edited] [ProMed]
Since May 2, 2011, there have been 817 cases of HUS and 2508 non-HUS STEC cases reported from European Union Member States, including 781 HUS cases and 2447 non-HUS STEC cases in Germany. Most cases are from, or have a history of travel to the North of Germany. In the EU/EEA, Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK have reported cases of HUS, while 5 other Member States have reported only non-HUS STEC cases. Laboratory results indicate that STEC serogroup O104:H4 Is the causative agent with strains capable of producing Shiga toxins, with the potential to cause severe enteric and systemic disease in humans.

Initiative to estimate the Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases
20 Dec. 2010
World Health Organization
Foodborne Diseases – a Growing Risk
Foodborne diseases encompass a wide spectrum of illnesses and are a growing public health problem worldwide. They are the result of ingesting contaminated foodstuffs, and range from diseases caused by a multitude of microorganisms to those caused by chemical hazards. The most common clinical presentation of foodborne diseases takes the form of gastrointestinal symptoms but such diseases can also lead to chronic, life-threatening symptoms including neurological, gynecological or immunological disorders as well as multiorgan failure, cancer and death. Recent global developments are increasingly challenging international health security. These developments include the growing industrialization and trade of food production, the rapid urbanization associated with a more frequent food preparation/consumption outside the home and the emergence of new or antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The global burden of foodborne diseases and its impact on development and trade is currently unknown in both industrialized and developing countries. However, developing countries tend to suffer from the largest share of the burden of foodborne diseases, thus achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (particularly MDG 1, 4, 5 and 6) is directly compromised. Reliable epidemiological data are, however, urgently needed to enable policy-makers as well as other stakeholders to: * appropriately allocate resources to foodborne disease, prevention and control efforts; * monitor and evaluate food safety measures; * develop new food safety standards; * assess the cost-effectiveness of interventions; and * quantify the burden in monetary costs. As a response to this data gap, the WHO Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses (FOS) launched an Initiative to Estimate the Global Burden of Foodborne Disease in collaboration with multiple partners. The Unknown Burden Data from surveillance systems and sentinel sites indicate a high disease burden for foodborne diseases caused by microorganisms alone. Such data, however, tend to show only the tip of the clinical iceberg and cannot sufficiently describe true disease burden. For affected persons to feature in such health statistics, they not only have to seek medical care, provide a specimen for laboratory investigation, and test positive on laboratory methods but must also be reported to the relevant health authorities. To circumvent the problems posed by such under-reporting and describe disease burden more adequately, a number of innovative and creative approaches have been used in recent years for some foodborne diseases from various causes. These include the use of active surveillance and field studies, risk assessment methods, and epidemiological disease modelling. For many other foodborne diseases, however, including some zoonoses and diseases caused by chemical hazards, no such data or studies exist. In order to estimate disease burden comprehensively and provide more complete information for policy makers it is important to move beyond the mere quantification of morbidity and mortality and describe burden in a summary measure that includes elements of severity and duration of disease, as well as resulting disability. One such summary indicator is the Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) which has been widely used by WHO and others in the field of burden of disease estimation. WHO's Initiative The real impact and costs of foodborne diseases globally is unknown. The Initiative to Estimate the Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases was launched out of the need to fill this data vacuum by the Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses (FOS) of the World Health Organization (WHO) at an international consultation in September 2006. This Initiative primarily strives: * to enable policy-makers and other stakeholders to set appropriate, evidence-informed priorities in the area of food safety. Through the support of a special advisory group, the Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG), the Initiative aims to: * Strengthen country capacity for conducting burden of foodborne disease assessments in parallel with food safety policy analyses, and increase the number of countries who have undertaken such studies. * Provide estimates on the global burden of foodborne diseases according to age, sex and regions for a defined list of causative agents of microbial, parasitic, and chemical origin. * Increase awareness and commitment among Member States for the implementation of food safety policy and standards. * Encourage countries to use burden of foodborne disease estimates for cost-effectiveness analyses of prevention, intervention and control measures. Publication Outputs * A Global Report and Global Atlas on FBD morbidity, disability and mortality. Both will be made accessible online and through software available to scientists in developing countries. * A peer reviewed paper series in a high-impact journal with at least 50% of authors from developing countries. Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group The Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG) is composed of internationally renowned experts in a broad range of disciplines relevant to global foodborne disease epidemiology. Members were appointed by the WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, following a transparent selection process. A complete list of FERG Members, technical and resource advisers can be accessed here. The expert group is charged to: * assemble, appraise and report on the current, the projected as well as the averted burden of foodborne disease estimates; * conduct epidemiological reviews for mortality, morbidity and disability in each of the major foodborne diseases; * provide models for the estimation of FBD burden where data are lacking; * develop cause attribution models to estimate the proportion of diseases that are foodborne; and, most importantly * use the FERG models to develop user-friendly tools for burden of foodborne disease studies at country level. To estimate the global human health burden (expressed in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), FERG will initially focus on microbial, parasitic, zoonotic and chemical contamination of food with an emphasis: * on diseases whose incidence and severity is thought to be high. * on pathogens and chemicals that are most likely to contaminate food and which have a high degree of preventability. Structure and Composition of FERG FERG consists of a Core (or Steering) Group to coordinate and oversee the scientific work, four different Thematic Task Forces advancing the work in specific areas as shown in the figure below; and external resource and technical advisers who are invited on an ad hoc basis to provide specific expertise. Country Studies One key element needed to establish the global burden of foodborne diseases is to look at national estimates. the FERG will strive for this by strengthening the capacity of countries to undertake national burden of foodborne disease assessments and provide them with the tools needed to conduct these studies. The FERG Country Studies Task Force is composed of two 'pillars' - the Burden of Disease Group and the Knowledge Translation and Policy Group. It is mandated to produce protocols that will enable countries to undertake their own burden of foodborne disease assessments while, at the same time, conducting policy context mapping. The results of the policy context mapping will feed back into the research cycle, thus ensuring that the burden information gathered is meaningful and useful to end-users. Pilot country studies are being planned to test the protocols developed and improve them before commencing full country studies in all six WHO regions. The pilots are set to commence in early 2011. Partnerships and Collaboration International partnerships have been forged and continue to expand. To date they include institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in The Netherlands, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), the governments of the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Ireland, Sri Lanka, among others. Collaboration with external experts from governmental, non-governmental and academic institutions (such as scientists from the recently established Health Metrics and Evaluation Institute, HMEI) are being intensified to ensure scientific synergy. Moreover, FERG capitalizes on WHO's wide collaboration with numerous surveillance networks, including GFN, PulseNet, US FoodNet, Enternet, the International Collaboration on Enteric Burden of Illness Studies, among others. Close interactions with other external stakeholders have been established and fostered during annual events since the Initiative's inception. These stakeholder events are attended by WHO Member States, bi- and multilateral donors, foundations, agricultural and food industry, consumer groups, NGOs, academia as well as scientific and public media and have each time shown how important dialogue is with our stakeholder community. Further engagement will be fostered and expanded as the Initiative enters the country studies phase.

Haiti- CHOLERA UPDATE 2011
13 Jan 2011
The Gazette (Montreal), Agence France-Presse (AFP) report [edited] [ProMed]
Haiti's cholera death toll has risen to 3759, government figures showed on Thursday, 13 Jan. 2011, but daily fatalities linked to the epidemic appeared to trend downward in the first days of 2011. The figure, which marks the total toll from the discovery of the outbreak in mid-October 2010 through 7 Jan. 2011, is just over 100 more than the Health Ministry's previous toll released one week ago. Total infections rose to 181,000 in Haiti, including 101,000 people who have been treated in hospital. Haiti's 13 Jan. 2011 figures put the mortality rate at 2.1%.
Related Stories:
Haiti - CHOLERA Update
31 Dec. 2010
Herald Sun [edited] [ProMed]
Haiti's cholera death toll has soared in recent days with 3,333 people dead. The figures, released on 30 Dec. 2010, included a 1-day record high for the daily number of fatalities since the outbreak erupted in mid-October 2010. The total number of infections soared toward 150,000 in Haiti. The Pan-American Health Organization in early December 2010 estimated Haiti could see up to 400,000 cholera cases over the next 12 months, half of them within 3 months alone.
Haiti- CHOLERA: HAITI, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, PAHO
22 Dec 2010
Fox News [edited] [ProMed]
Haiti's cholera death toll since the mid-October 2010 outbreak has reached 2,591 official figures showed Wednesday, 22 December 2010. Health ministry figures (as of 17 Dec 2010) showed that 121,518 people have been treated for cholera.
Haiti- CHOLERA UPDATE
7 Dec. 2010
Haiti Libre [edited] [ProMed]
Since the beginning of the epidemic (19 Nov 2010), 93,222 people have been infected with cholera and treated, 44,157 have been hospitalized and 2,120 people have died of the disease (latest figures of 4 Dec 2010 published by the Ministry of Public Health and Population). The epidemic has spread throughout the territory. The south is seriously affected and the mortality rate is 58.1 percent.
Haiti- Cholera Update
26 Nov 2010
Agence France-Presse (AFP) [edited] [ProMed]
The death toll from Haiti's cholera epidemic rose to 1,603 on Thursday, 25 November 2010, up from 1,415 just two days prior, according to the health ministry. The outbreak has infected 69,776 people since it was first detected in mid-October 2010, of whom 29,871 have been hospitalized. There have been isolated cases beyond Haiti's borders with four in the neighboring Dominican Republic and one in Miami, Florida.
Haiti- CHOLERA UPDATE
19 Nov 2010
Reuters [edited] [ProMed]
Haiti's cholera epidemic will inevitably spread to the Dominican Republic but is likely to cause less devastation there than compared to Haiti. Many Haitians work in the Dominican Republic and because cholera infections often do not show symptoms, the waterborne disease could easily cross the border according to WHO. More than 1110 people have died in Haiti from the cholera outbreak, and more than 18 000 have become sick.
Haiti- Cholera Update
16 Nov. 2010
Agence France-Presse [edited] [ProMed]
More than 1,000 people have died from cholera in Haiti and 16,800 have been hospitalized, health officials said Tuesday, 16 Nov 2010, as the outbreak spreads among earthquake survivors in the capital's tent cities. The health ministry death toll of 1,034 (accurate up to Sunday, 14 Nov 2010) is 117 higher than the last official toll announced at the weekend, nearly a month after the disease surfaced in the desperately poor Caribbean nation.
Haiti- Cholera update, suspected Dominican Republic spread
9 Nov 2010
Fox News [edited] [ProMed]
Officials with the UN confirmed that the cholera epidemic in Haiti has spread from the countryside of the tiny island nation to its capital of Port-Au-Prince, a development that could affect millions of people. According to an UN spokesperson, one person has died because of cholera in the Port-Au-Prince neighborhood of Cite Soleil, with at least 115 suspected cases overall in the city. Across Haiti, there are at least 9123 people hospitalized and 583 deaths, caused by the waterborne disease. Officials expect the numbers to climb.
Haiti -UPDATE TROPICAL STORM
6 Nov. 2010
YahooNews [edited] [ProMed]
Earthquake-hit Haiti escaped a fresh disaster threatened by Hurricane Tomas, but the storm caused flooding that killed 8 people and increased the contagion threat from a deadly cholera epidemic, the government and aid workers reported on Saturday, 6 Nov 2010. Amid widespread relief that the hurricane largely spared crowded camps in the Haitian capital housing 1.3 million quake survivors, the international humanitarian operation was turning its attention back to the 2-week-old epidemic, which has killed just over 500 people and sickened more than 7000. The cholera epidemic, which has affected 5 of Haiti's provinces, still appeared to be spreading. Haiti's health ministry released updated figures showing 501 people had died through 4 Nov 2010, up from 442 on 3 Nov 2010.
Related Stories:
Haiti- Cholera outbreak continues to spread
4 Nov. 2010
PAHO.org [edited] [CAHFS-DailyNews]
The death toll from Haiti's cholera epidemic spiked to 442 on Wednesday, 3 Nov 2010, with 105 more deaths since Saturday and more than a 40% jump in new cases. Haitian health authorities reported that an additional 1978 people were hospitalized, raising the total number of cases to 6742. The developments reflect a surge both in new cases and deaths. Meanwhile, hospitals have been overwhelmed by cholera cases despite intensive efforts to respond to a disease that many fear could spread like wildfire if it reaches densely populated Port-au-Prince. Hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by a devastating earthquake in January 2010 live in unsanitary camps in and around the city.
Haiti- CHOLERA
1 Nov. 2010
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) [edited] [ProMed]
MSPP (Ministere de la sante publique et de la population/Ministry of Public Health and Population) has not released new reports on cases. The latest available data is from Saturday, Oct. 30th 2010: 4,764 cases and 337 deaths reported due to cholera. Health partners throughout Haiti are preparing for the possible impact of tropical storm Tomas. The humanitarian community, including PAHO/WHO, is coordinating with Haiti's Department of Civil Protection.

Hungary- Chemical sludge spill
7 Oct. 2010
BBC News [edited] [CAHFS-DailyNews]
Hungary is racing to prevent red chemical sludge from a huge spill reaching the Danuberiver. Disaster officials say the toxic sludge has killed all the fish in the Marcal, the river first hit by a disaster which has left at least four people dead, three others missing and another 120 with injuries including burns. The sludge is a hazardous mixture of water and mining waste containing heavy metals.
Related Stories:
Hungary- Sludge death toll rises
8 Oct. 2010
BBC News [edited] [CAHFS-DailyNews]
The death toll following the spill of a large amount of toxic red sludge from an industrial plant in western Hungaryhas risen to seven. Experts have been pouring large quantities of clay and acid into affected waterways in an effort to neutralize the alkaline pollutants. Officials have said that there is no longer a risk of biological or environmental damage, and drinking water supplies had not been affected. However it was also noted that the sludge had a high content of heavy metals including carcinogens which could go down the rivers and enter the food chain.
Hungary- TOXIC SPILL - FATAL, HEAVY METALS
11 Oct 2010
Nature News [edited] [ProMed]
A week after around one million cubic meters of red sludge escaped from a Hungarian alumina factory, an analysis commissioned by an environmental group has revealed that more than 50 tones of arsenic may have been released as a result of the spill. The sludge, a by-product of alumina (aluminium oxide) production, has killed at least 7 people and contaminated several thousand hectares of land north of Hungary's Lake Balaton. The closest village and two smaller villages may have to be abandoned completely, and scientists predict that the environment will take years to recover. In addition to containing almost twice as much arsenic (110 milligrams per kilogram dry mass) as expected for the red mud resulting from aluminium oxide production, the concentrations of mercury and chromium are also relatively high.



SFI's data has been analyzed and PUBLISHED in a peer reviewed journal! Please visit the follow website: http://safefoodinternational.org/reports.html and read, Food Protection Trends, August 2010: A Comparison of the Burden of Foodborne and Waterborne Diseases in Three World Regions. For this article, 2008 data was collected through the SFI Regional News and analyzed from three of the six regions where sufficient data was available -- Europe, Africa, and the Western Pacific regions. This is a new model for public health surveillance, and the hope is that advocacy organizations, along with scientists and government officials, will use this information to improve public health programs. CSPI has been able to track and compile this information over time. This article is our first effort in this direction. Ultimately the data can help development and public health specialists assess emerging trends in the food and the agricultural sectors.

WHO- Prevention of foodborne disease: Five keys to safer food
01 October 2010
WHO [edited] [BITES]
http://www.who.int/foodsafety/consumer/5keys/en/index.html
Simple messages and measures can have a big impact on health protection. These Five Keys to Safer Food have already contributed to the prevention of foodborne illness and deserve to be communicated more widely. Each day millions of people become ill and thousands die from a preventable foodborne disease. Proper food preparation can prevent many foodborne diseases. As part of its global strategy to decrease the burden of foodborne diseases, WHO identified the need to communicate a simple global health message based on scientific evidence, to educate all types of food handlers, including ordinary consumers. The Five Keys to Safer Food message, and associated training materials, were developed to provide countries with materials that are easy to use, reproduce and adapt to different target audiences. The five keys to safer food are: - Keep clean - Separate raw and cooked - Cook thoroughly - Keep food at safe temperatures - Use safe water and raw materials

World Health Organization - Estimating the global burden of foodborne diseases- a collaborative effort
07 May 2009
Eurosurveillance, Volume 14, Issue 18 [edited] [FSNet]
T Kuchenmüller, S Hird, C Stein, P Kramarz, A Nanda, A H Havelaar
Illness and death from diseases caused by unsafe food are a constant threat to public health security as well as socio-economic development throughout the world. The full extent of the burden and cost of foodborne diseases associated with pathogenic bacterial, viral and parasitic microorganisms, and food contaminated by chemicals is still unknown but is thought to be substantial. The World Health Organization (WHO) Initiative to estimate the global burden of foodborne diseases aims to fill the current data gap and respond to the increasing global interest in health information. Collaborative efforts are required to achieve the ambitious task of assessing the foodborne disease burden from all causes worldwide. Recognising the need to join forces, the WHO Initiative has assembled an alliance of stakeholders which share and support the Initiative's vision, intended objectives and outcomes. One important collaborator is the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) which has embarked on a burden of disease study covering at least 18 foodborne diseases in nearly 30 countries.


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