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. 2023 Dec 12;21(12):e8442. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2023.8442

TABLE 53.

Number of foodborne outbreaks, human cases, hospitalisations and deaths, by causative agent, in reporting EU MSs, 2022.

Type of agent Outbreaks Cases of illness
Total (strong‐evidence) % of total Reporting rate per 100,000 Human cases Mean outbreak size (cases) and range (min‐max) Hospitalisations Deaths
N 2022 b 2018‐2021 b , c N % of total N % of cases d N % of cases d
Bacteria Aeromonas 2 (1) 0.03 < 0.01 < 0.01 8 0.02 4.0 (3–5) 1 12.5 0 0
Campylobacter 255 (16) 4.4 0.06 0.08 1097 2.3 4.3 (2–32) 83 7.6 0 0
Enterococcus 1 (0) 0.02 < 0.01 < 0.01 6 0.01 6.0 (−) 1 16.7 0 0
Escherichia coli other than STEC 15 (5) 0.26 < 0.01 < 0.01 513 1.1 34.2 (2–123) 4 0.78 1 0.19
Listeria monocytogenes e 35 (17) 0.61 0.01 < 0.01 296 0.61 8.5 (1–97) 242 81.8 28 9.5
Salmonella f 1014 (200) 17.6 0.23 0.22 6632 13.6 6.5 (1–138) 1406 21.2 8 0.12
Shiga toxin‐producing E. coli (STEC) g 71 (1) 1.2 0.02 0.01 408 0.84 5.9 (2–45) 63 15.4 1 0.25
Shigella 27 (2) 0.47 0.01 < 0.01 204 0.42 7.6 (2–47) 17 8.3 0 0
Streptococcus equi 1 (1) 0.02 < 0.01 0 37 0.08 37.0 (−) 23 62.2 5 13.5
Vibrio cholerae (non‐toxigenic) 1 (1) 0.02 < 0.01 < 0.01 4 0.01 4.0 (−) 1 25.0 0 0
Vibrio parahaemolyticus 8 (2) 0.14 < 0.01 < 0.01 113 0.23 14.1 (2–78) 2 1.8 0 0
Yersinia 14 (0) 0.24 < 0.01 < 0.01 96 0.20 6.9 (2–23) 4 4.2 0 0
Subtotal f , g 1444 (246) 25.1 0.32 0.33 9414 19.4 6.5 (1–138) 1847 19.6 43 0.46
Bacterial toxins Bacillus cereus toxins 306 (15) 5.3 0.07 0.02 3192 6.6 10.4 (2–383) 66 2.1 2 0.06
Clostridium botulinum toxins 7 (2) 0.12 < 0.01 < 0.01 20 0.04 2.9 (2–5) 10 50.0 0 0
Clostridium perfringens toxins 55 (22) 0.95 0.01 0.01 2897 6.0 52.7 (2–950) 11 0.38 3 0.10
Staphylococcus aureus toxins 137 (38) 2.4 0.03 0.02 2199 4.5 16.1 (2–119) 148 6.7 4 0.18
Bacterial toxins, unspecified 636 (2) 11.0 0.14 0.11 5594 11.5 8.8 (2–139) 181 3.2 2 0.04
Subtotal 1141 (79) 19.8 0.25 0.16 13,902 28.6 12.2 (2–950) 416 3.0 11 0.08
Viruses Flavivirus (including Tick‐borne Encephalitis virus) 3 (3) 0.05 < 0.01 < 0.01 8 0.02 2.7 (2–4) 8 100 0 0
Hepatitis A 8 (5) 0.14 < 0.01 < 0.01 71 0.15 8.9 (2–19) 14 19.7 0 0
Hepatitis E 4 (0) 0.07 < 0.01 < 0.01 10 0.02 2.5 (2–4) 7 70.0 0 0
Norovirus (and other calicivirus) 332 (48) 5.8 0.07 0.06 7305 15.0 22.0 (2–244) 97 1.3 2 0.03
Rotavirus 2 (1) 0.03 < 0.01 < 0.01 28 0.06 14.0 (2–26) 2 7.1 0 0
Other viruses, unspecified 4 (0) 0.07 < 0.01 0.01 621 1.3 155.3 (3–600) 7 1.1 0 0
Subtotal 353 (57) 6.1 0.08 0.08 8043 16.5 22.8 (2–600) 135 1.7 2 0.02
Parasites Cryptosporidium 15 (3) 0.26 < 0.01 < 0.01 298 0.61 19.9 (2–107) 1 0.34 0 0
Giardia h 3 (0) 0.05 < 0.01 < 0.01 7 0.01 3.5 (3–4) 0 0 0 0
Trichinella 7 (4) 0.12 < 0.01 < 0.01 68 0.14 9.7 (3–26) 10 14.7 0 0
Subtotal h 25 (7) 0.43 < 0.01 < 0.01 373 0.77 15.5 (2–107) 11 2.9 0 0
Other causative agents Histamine and Scombrotoxin 100 (25) 1.7 0.02 0.01 513 1.1 5.1 (2–94) 44 8.6 0 0
Marine biotoxins 31 (3) 0.54 0.01 0.01 82 0.17 2.6 (2–12) 8 9.8 0 0
Mushroom toxins 7 (3) 0.12 < 0.01 < 0.01 25 0.05 3.6 (2–8) 11 44.0 1 4.0
Other agents (incl. unspecified) 3 (2) 0.05 < 0.01 < 0.01 104 0.21 34.7 (5–74) 3 2.9 0 0
Subtotal 141 (33) 2.4 0.03 0.02 724 1.5 5.1 (2–94) 66 9.1 1 0.14
Unknown Unknown / Unspecified 2659 (65) 46.1 0.59 0.37 16,149 33.2 6.1 (2–360) 308 1.9 7 0.04
EU Total e , i 5763 (487) 100 1.28 0.97 48,605 100 8.4 (1–950) 2783 5.7 64 0.13

Notes: ‘Escherichia coli other than STEC’ includes Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) (1), Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) (1), Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) (1), Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) (2) and other unspecified Escherichia coli (10). ‘Marine biotoxins’ includes ciguatoxin (11) and other unspecified toxins (20). ‘Other agents’ includes atropine (1) and lectin (2).

a

Percentage of the total number of cases reported in the EU.

b

For the 2021–2022 period, data on FBOs from the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) were taken into account. In accordance with the agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU, and in particular with the Ireland/Northern Ireland protocol, the EU requirements on data sampling are also applicable to the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland).

c

For the 2018–2019 period, data on FBOs from the United Kingdom were taken into account, because the United Kingdom was still an EU MS at that time. However, on 1 February 2020 it became a third country.

d

Percentage of the total number of cases caused by the causative agent.

e

During the last phase of the production of this draft report, Hungary informed EFSA that one strong‐evidence outbreak (one case, one hospitalisation and one death) caused by Listeria monocytogenes, was reported in error.

f

Five outbreaks (84 cases and 29 hospitalisations) were caused by Salmonella Typhi.

g

For two outbreaks, information on cases was not available. These outbreaks were excluded from the calculation of the mean outbreak size.

h

For one outbreak, information on cases was not available. This outbreak was excluded from the calculation of the mean outbreak size.

i

For three outbreaks, information on cases was not available. These outbreaks were excluded from the calculation of the mean outbreak size.