News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The number of US gastroenteritis deaths more than doubled in 8 years, with Clostridium difficile and norovirus as the two most common culprits, researchers reported today at an infectious disease conference.

(CIDRAP News) – The incidence of dairy-related foodborne illness outbreaks is 150 times higher in raw milk and is greater in states where the products are legal, researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

Their 13-year review, coming amid one of the nation's largest outbreaks ever linked to raw milk, also found that patients affected by raw milk outbreaks are more likely to be sicker and younger.

(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.