22 Apr Rapid Tests For Foodborne Infections Can Provide Faster Treatment But Curtail Important Outbreak Data
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ellyn Marder
Ms. Ellyn Marder MPH
Surveillance Epidemiologist, CDC
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: CDC’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) report provides the most up-to-date information about foodborne illnesses in the United States. Each year, FoodNet publishes a report that includes preliminary data compared with data from the previous three years. FoodNet has been monitoring illness trends since 1996 and collects data on about 15 percent of the U.S. population.
Campylobacter and Salmonella caused the most reported bacterial foodborne illnesses in 2016, according to preliminary data. FoodNet sites alone reported 24,029 foodborne infections, 5,512 hospitalizations, and 98 deaths in 2016. The numbers of reported illnesses by germ are: Campylobacter (8,547), Salmonella (8,172), Shigella (2,913), Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (1,845), Cryptosporidium (1,816), Yersinia (302), Vibrio (252), Listeria (127) and Cyclospora (55).
This is the first time the report also includes in the total number of infections those foodborne bacterial infections diagnosed only by rapid diagnostic tests in FoodNet sites. Previously, the report counted foodborne bacterial infections confirmed only by traditional culture-based methods in the total numbers.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: The new data reflect the increasing popularity of rapid tests known as culture-independent diagnostic tests, or CIDTs. These faster tests can have immediate benefits for treatment, but do not collect information needed to determine if an infection is antibiotic-resistant or if it is linked to an outbreak. Positive results on rapid tests can be followed up by culture-based tests to get detailed data, but often are not, according to the report.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Response: Foodborne illness remains a substantial public health concern in the United States. The shift to CIDTs poses challenges to monitoring foodborne illness trends because changes in the number of new infections could reflect changes in testing practices rather than a true increase in infections. FoodNet is developing new tools that will allow it to continue to track the needed progress toward reducing foodborne illness.
It’s important that laboratories continue to do follow-up cultures on CIDT-positive patients so public health officials can get the information needed to protect people from foodborne illness.
MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Response: FoodNet provides the information needed for effective food-safety policies and prevention efforts. CDC works closely with other federal, state, and local partners and with the food industry to improve food safety in the United States.
MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.
Citation:
Marder EP, Cieslak PR, Cronquist AB, et al. Incidence and Trends of Infections with Pathogens Transmitted Commonly Through Food and the Effect of Increasing Use of Culture-Independent Diagnostic Tests on Surveillance — Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, 10 U.S. Sites, 2013–2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2017;66:397–403. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6615a1.
Note: Content is Not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care provider regarding your specific medical condition and questions.
More Medical Research Interviews on MedicalResearch.com
[wysija_form id=”5″]
Last Updated on April 22, 2017 by Marie Benz MD FAAD