Not only can you get sick from foodborne pathogens, the Food and Drug Administration estimates that two to three percent of all foodborne illnesses lead to serious secondary long-term illnesses. For example, hemolytic uremic syndrome, the main cause of kidney failure in children, is caused by infection with E. coli O157:H7 (CDC); reactive arthritis(RA) occurs in approximately eight percent of foodborne illness cases, and it is associated with many different foodborne pathogens including Campylobacter and Salmonella (Buzby & Roberts, 2009); irritable bowel syndrome(IBS) has been associated with various food-related gastrointestinal infections including Norovirus and various bacterial illnesses (Spiller & Garsed, 2009); fetal loss, meningitis, and sepsis have all been linked to Listeria (CDC); and individuals infected with Campylobacter are at a 77-fold greater risk of developing the Guillian-Barre syndrome than the general population (Tam et al., 2006).
The foodborne pathogens known to cause the most number of illnesses as recognized by the CDC are Salmonella, Campylobacter, E .coli O157:H7 and Norovirus. Only a small proportion of infected people are tested and diagnosed, with as few as 2 percent of cases reported to CDC.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1.4 million people in the United States are infected each year with Salmonella. According to the CDC, Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of diarrhea in the United States, resulting in 2.5 million cases per year. Since 1982, E. coli O157:H7 has emerged as an important cause of foodborne illness. The CDC estimates this pathogen causes approximately 73,000 cases of infection and 61 deaths in the United States each year. Shigellosis, also called bacillary dysentery, causes bloody diarrhea, fever, nausea, vomiting, and cramps. The CDC estimates that more than 400,000 cases occur every year in the United States. According to the CDC, incidences of Listeriosis have declined to about 3.0 cases per 1 million people in 2005. However, about 1/3 of all cases of Listeriosis occur in pregnant women and it can be fatal to the fetus and to the expectant mother.
