World Health Organization Report of Foodborne Viruses

NOROVIRUS:

Human norovirus is a major cause of foodborne illness worldwide (WHO, 2023) and is estimated to cause approximately 685 million cases and 212,000 deaths of acute gastroenteritis per year (Kirk et al., 2015). The symptoms of norovirus infections are nausea, vomiting, non-bloody diarrhea, and abdominal pain, which are all self-limiting (WHO, 2023).

HEPATITIS A:

Hepatitis A virus causes more than 159 million infections a year globally, with 39,000 deaths according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (WHO, 2022; HME, 2019). Approximately 14 million cases and 27 000 deaths are attributed to foodborne transmission (Kirk et al., 2015). The proportion of HAV cases attributed to food is estimated at 40 percent (Havelaar et al., 2015; WHO 2015); 30 percent for Europe (Severi et al., 2023). The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that in the United States of America, 41 percent of HAV cases are due to international travel while 7 percent are domestic foodborne cases (Scallan et al., 2011). For HAV outbreaks in regions with low population immunity, and which are related to contaminated food, the food has been imported from intermediate or high endemic areas. Foodborne outbreaks with ongoing transmission, via person-to-person contact occurring weeks or months later, are also frequently reported (FAO and WHO, 2008).

HEPATITIS E:

Hepatitis E is an important disease in many developing countries where it is epidemic, but it is also endemic in many industrialized countries. According to the WHO, an estimated 20 million people worldwide are infected by hepatitis E virus (HEV) each year via contaminated water, food, or other vehicles, leading to 3.3 million cases of hepatitis E and 44,000 hepatitis E-related deaths (WHO, 2023). There is no global estimation of cases that are attributed to food. For Europe, where foodborne transmission of HEV appears to be a major route, 21,000 acute clinical cases with 28 fatalities were notified between 2005 and 2015 (EFSA, 2017). However, hepatitis E is not notifiable in all European countries, and it is still considered to be an under diagnosed disease in Europe (EFSA, 2017) and likely in other regions of the world as well.

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Republished with permission from Bill Marler and Marler Clark. Copyright (c) Marler Clark LLP, PS. All rights reserved.