About one in every 10 people around the world is sickened by foodborne disease each year. Of those 600 million people, 420,000 die as a result. These numbers are the first global estimates — conservative ones — of foodborne illnesses and were calculated by the World Health Organization (WHO). The comprehensive report, published Thursday, Dec. 3, incorporated 31 foodborne hazards, including bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins and chemicals. Diarrheal diseases were responsible for most of the global burden, causing 550 million illnesses and 230,000 deaths, WHO reported. And children younger than 5 years old carried 40 percent of the foodborne disease burden, despite representing only 9 percent of the global population.
31 Foodborne Hazards in WHO Global Estimates | |
Diarrheal Disease Agents | Campylobacter spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Entamoeba histolytica, Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), Giardia spp., Norovirus, Salmonella enterica (non-invasive infections) non-typhoidal, Shigella spp., Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), Vibrio cholerae |
Invasive Infectious Disease Agents | Brucella spp., Hepatitis A virus, Listeria spp., Mycobacterium bovis, Salmonella enterica (invasive infections) non-typhoidal, Salmonella enterica Paratyphi A, Salmonella enterica Typhi |
Helminths | Ascaris spp., Echinococcus multilocularis, Echinococcus granulosus, Clonorchis sinensis, Fasciola spp., Intestinal flukes, Opisthorchis spp., Paragonimus spp., Taenia solium, Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella spp. |
Chemicals | Aflatoxin, Cassava cyanide, Dioxin |
Certain diseases, such as those caused by non-typhoidal Salmonella, are a public health concern across all regions of the world. Other diseases, such as typhoid fever, foodborne cholera, and those caused by pathogenic E. coli, are much more common in low-income countries. Campylobacter is an important pathogen in high-income countries. “Until now, estimates of foodborne diseases were vague and imprecise. This concealed the true human costs of contaminated food,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO director-general. “This report sets the record straight.” The risk of foodborne diseases is most severe in low- and middle-income countries and is linked to preparing food with unsafe water, poor hygiene and inadequate conditions in food production and storage, lower levels of literacy and education, and insufficient food safety legislation or implementation of such legislation.