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Volume 31, Number 4—April 2025
Research

Foodborne Illness Acquired in the United States—Major Pathogens, 2019

Elaine J. Scallan WalterComments to Author , Zhaohui Cui, Reese Tierney, Patricia M. Griffin, Robert M. Hoekstra, Daniel C. Payne, Erica B. Rose, Carey Devine, Angella Sandra Namwase, Sara A. Mirza, Anita K. Kambhampati, Anne Straily, and Beau B. Bruce
Author affiliation: Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, Colorado, USA (E.J. Scallan Walter); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (Z. Cui, R. Tierney, P.M. Griffin, R.M. Hoekstra, D.C. Payne, E.B. Rose, C. Devine, A.S. Namwase, S.A. Mirza, A.K. Kambhampati, A. Straily, B.B. Bruce); Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA (D.C. Payne); University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati (D.C. Payne)

Main Article

Table 1

Estimated annual numbers of illnesses caused by major foodborne pathogens, United States, 2019*

Pathogen Laboratory confirmed, no.† % From international travel % Foodborne No. domestically acquired foodborne illnesses, mean (90% CrI)
Multipliers‡
Underreporting Underdiagnosis
Campylobacter spp. 72,218§ 1 52.8 19 57 1,870,000 (696,000‒3,760,000)
Clostridium perfringens
 811¶
 28.9
 38.1
 <1
 100
 889,000 (19,300‒3,090,000)
Listeria monocytogenes# 1,250 (1,080‒1,460)
NPA 656** 1 1.7 3 100 1,050 (911‒1,220)
PA, mothers 66** 1 1.7 3 100 106 (76‒134)
PA, infants
 57**
 1
 1.7
 3
 99
 92 (74‒122)
Norovirus
 2,915,705††
 1
 10.1
 1
 19
 5,540,000 (2,230,000‒10,300,000)
Nontyphoidal Salmonella spp. serotypes# NA NA 1,280,000 (866,000‒1,760,000)
Enteritidis 11,240§ 1 38.8 22 80 297,000 (181,000‒453,000)
I 4,[5],12:i:- 3,721§ 1 38.5 10 66 93,900 (46,500‒163,000)
Javiana 4,324§ 1 39.2 5 56 91,800 (21,400‒215,000)
Newport 5,906§ 1 38.4 7 74 179,000 (66,200‒463,000)
Typhimurium 6,287§ 1 39.0 7 59 135,000 (63,000‒227,000)
Other
 24,504§
 1
 39.6
 11
 50
 484,000 (171,000‒853,000)
STEC# NA NA 357,000 (159,000‒648,000)
O157 5,069§ 1 38.9 9 60 86,200 (31,400‒201,000)
Non-O157
 15,648§
 1
 42.7
 24
 50
 271,000 (97,200‒546,000)
All pathogens# NA NA NA NA NA 9,940,000 (5,860,000‒15,400,000)

*Means and CrIs were rounded off; unrounded numbers are shown in Appendix 3 Table 1. CrI, credible interval; NA, not applicable; NPA, non–pregnancy-associated; PA, pregnancy-associated; STEC, Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli. †Estimates according to the average US population during 2017–2019. ‡Pathogen- and data source–specific multipliers used to adjust for underreporting and underdiagnosis. §Active surveillance data from Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (2017–2019), adjusted for geographic coverage. ¶Passive surveillance data on outbreak-associated illnesses from the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (2010–2019). #Total number of illnesses and the number of domestically acquired foodborne illness were the sum of the estimates for corresponding subgroups. **Passive surveillance data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Listeria Initiative (2017–2019). ††Active surveillance from Kaiser Permanente Northwest (2014–2016) and administrative data from IBM MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental Databases (2001–2015) (1,2) applied to the US population during 2017–2019.

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