Diet and Health: Diseases and Food 305(flukeworms), cestodes (tapeworms) and nematodes (roundworms), the last three
all small worms that can be found either in soil, fish or meats. The first two are
concerns in global food trade particularly. In the case of bacteria such as Listeria
monocytogenes, only 657 cases were reported throughout the EU in 1998;^119 in the
same period, deaths from cardiovascular disease in the EU totalled 1.5 million, 42
per cent of all deaths,^120 while, in 1990, diarrhoeal diseases accounted for 11,000
years of life (DALYs) lost out of a total of 22.7 million in Europe; in the same year,
cardiovascular disease accounted for 7 million, diabetes for 371,000 and cancer of
the colon and rectum for 593,000,^121 and five times as many years of life were lost
due to drug addiction than to diarrhoeal diseases.
Despite a low health burden in the developed world, the financial costs of food
poisoning can be significant. Estimates in the US suggest that the diseases caused
Table 13.14 Some pathogenic organisms associated with public health, which may be
transmitted through foodBacteria Protozoa
Bacillus cereus Cryptosporidium spp
Brucella spp Entamoeba histolyica
Campylobacter jejuni and coli Giardia lamblia
Clostridium botulinum Toxoplasma gondii
Clostridium perfringens
Escherichia coli
(pathogenic strains) Trematodes (flukeworms)
Listeria monocytogenes Fascioia hepatica
Mycobacterium bovis Opistorchis felineus
Salmonella typhi and paratyphi
Salmonella (non-typhi) spp Cestodes (tapeworms)
Shigella spp Diphyllobotrium latum
Staphylococcus aureus Echinococcus spp
Vibrio cholerae Taenia solium and saginata
Vibrio parahaemolyticus
Vibrio fulnificus Nematodes (roundworms)
Yersinia enterocolitica Anisakis spp
Ascaris lumbricoides
Viruses Trichinella spiralis
Hepatitis A Trichuris trichiura
Norwalk agents
Poliovirus
RotavirusSource: WHO European Centre for Health and Environment, Rome, 2000