News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Norovirus and Salmonella continued to top the list of pathogens responsible for US outbreaks of foodborne disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Although the estimated annual toll of foodborne illnesses and deaths in the United States was revised sharply downward by federal officials in 2010, foodborne disease still costs the nation up to $77.7 billion a year, according to a new study in the Journal of Food Protection.

(CIDRAP News) – State and local public health laboratories have improved their ability to identify and report infectious disease and chemical threats, and health departments are making steady progress in readiness planning, such as deploying medicines and other supplies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report today.

(CIDRAP News) – Most of the foodborne illnesses in the United States are caused by a fairly short list of pathogens in a limited number of foods, with Salmonella, Campylobacter, and poultry ranking high, the University of Florida's Emerging Pathogens Institute said in a lengthy report released today.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today unveiled a proposal to require meat processors to hold onto product lots undergoing routine pathogen testing until the test results come in, a rule that the agency says could have prevented dozens of meat recalls in a recent 3-year period.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today released newer, more precise estimates of the foodborne illness burden, suggesting 1 in 6 Americans get sick each year, a rate lower than previously thought.

(CIDRAP News) – State and local health departments have significantly improved their readiness for public health emergencies in the past few years, with laboratory capacity and emergency operations centers leading the list of improved areas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a major report released today.