The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have published the annual report on zoonoses, zoonotic agents and epidemic outbreaks of foodborne diseases relating to data collected in 2022 from 27 EU member states, Northern Ireland and 11 non-member countries.
In Europe, the number of MTA outbreaks, single cases, hospitalizations and deaths was higher in 2022 than in 2021.
The number of deaths related to foodborne outbreaks is the highest ever reported in the EU in the last 10 years , mainly due to L. monocytogenes (286 deaths), West Nile virus (92 deaths) and Salmonella spp . (n. 81 deaths).
MTA OUTBREAKS
The most frequent cause of foodborne outbreaks was Salmonella spp, which accounted for 17.6% (1014 outbreaks) of the total. Salmonella Enteritidis was the most frequently reported serotype.
Foodborne outbreaks differ from overall reported disease cases in that they are events in which at least two people contract the same disease from the same contaminated food. The most common sources of salmonellosis outbreaks are: eggs and egg products, "mixed foods", i.e. meals made up of various ingredients.
The number of outbreaks caused by Listeria monocytogenes (35) was the highest ever reported in the EU (in 2021 there were 23), however the 2018-2022 trend still remains unchanged. There are also 3 outbreaks reported from non-EU member states.
SINGLE CASES OF ZOONOSES
The report also covers reported single cases of zoonotic diseases, which are not necessarily linked to outbreaks.
Campylobacteriosis remains the leading zoonosis in the EU , with a number of reported cases similar to 2021 (137,107 in 2022, compared to 137,317 in 2021).
This is followed by salmonellosis (no. 65,208 cases), yersiniosis (no. 7,919 cases), E. coli STEC infections (no. 7,117 cases) and listeriosis (no. 2,738 cases).
L. monocytogenes and West Nile virus infections were the most serious zoonotic diseases, with the greatest number of hospitalizations and highest mortality rates.
In Italy, however, again for 2022, salmonellosis is the zoonosis with the highest number of notified cases, followed by campylobacteriosis, listeriosis, STEC infections, yersiniosis and brucellosis.
For some years now, this data has constituted a peculiarity of the epidemiological picture of zoonoses in our country, compared to the rest of Europe.
The report also includes data on Mycobacterium bovis/caprae, Brucella, Trichinella spp., Echinococcus spp., Toxoplasma gondii, rabies, Q fever, Westi Nile virus infections, and tularemia.
Interactive dashboards and storymaps relating to data on foodborne zoonoses since 2018 are also available on the EFSA website. (Source: https://www.ceirsa.org/ )
Read the full EFSA-ECDC document “ The European Union One Health 2022 Zoonoses Report ”