Australia 2017 annual report on the monitoring of incidence and causes of disease transmitted by food by OzFoodNet

The OzFoodNet network was established in 2000 by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care in an effort at a national level to investigate and understand foodborne disease, describe its epidemiology more effectively, and identify ways to minimize foodborne illness in Australia. The burden of foodborne disease in Australia is significant, with an estimated 4.1 million people infected yearly, costing an estimated $1.2 billion annually. In 2017, the OzFoodNet reported state and territory health departments received 47,652 notifications of enteric diseases related to food. As in previous years, most infections were either campylobacteriosis (n = 28,432; 60%) or salmonellosis (n = 16,416; 34%). A total of 206 gastrointestinal outbreaks, including 179 foodborne outbreaks, were reported in 2017. The remaining 27 outbreaks were due to environmental or probable environmental transmission (22 outbreaks), animal-to-person or probable animal-to-person transmission (three outbreaks), and waterborne or probable waterborne transmission (two outbreaks). Foodborne outbreaks affected 2,130 people resulting in at least 290 hospital admissions and five deaths. Eggs continue to be a source of Salmonella Typhimurium infection across the country, with 49 egg-related outbreaks affecting at least 746 people reported across six jurisdictions in 2017. @ https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/2A15CD097063EF40CA2587CE008354F1/%24File/monitoring_the_incidence_and_causes_of_disease_potentially_transmitted_by_food_in_australia_annual_report_of_the_ozfoodnet_network_2017.pdf