CAMPYLOBACTERIOSIS: IMPORTANCE OF STRENGTHENING SURVEILLANCE AND REPORTED FOODBORNE DISEASE CONTROL WITHIN EUROPEAN UNION

Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology and Food Sciences Zeleňáková et al. 2012 : 1 (February Special issue) 855-867 REGULAR ARTICLE CAMPYLOBACTERIOSIS: IMPORTANCE OF STRENGTHENING SURVEILLANCE AND REPORTED FOODBORNE DISEASE CONTROL WITHIN EUROPEAN UNION Lucia Zeleňáková1*, Jana Žiarovská2, Dagmar Kozelová1, Ladislav Mura3, Ľubomír Lopašovský1, Alica Bobková1, Peter Zajác1, Jozef Čapla1, Katarína Tináková4 Address: 1Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Department of Food Hygiene and Safety, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 949 76 Nitra, Slovak Republic 2 Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Tr. A. Hlinku, 949 01 Nitra, Slovak Republic 3 Dubnica Institute of Technology, Sládkovičova 533/20, 018 41 Dubnica nad Váhom, Slovak Republic 4 The Regional Public Health Authority, Štefánikova 8, 949 01 Nitra, Slovak Republic *Corresponding author: ABSTRACT The aim of the work was to analyze the changes in the epidemiology of campylobacteriosis diseases in Slovakia over the past 10 years and evaluate them in the context of epidemiological changes comparing to the EU. Campylobacteriosis (A045) belong to the diseases with the highest morbidity in Slovakia. Campylobacteriosis remained by far the most frequently reported zoonotic disease in humans in Slovakia as well as in EU. For the period of 2001-2010 was reported in Slovakia25 574 campylobacteriosis cases. Most diseases were reported in 2010 with the number 4591 (84.63 morbidity/100 000 inhabitants). Increase in morbidity is evident since 2003 with an average annual increase of 22%. We focused on more in-depth epidemiological analysis of campylobacteriosis cases in Slovak republic in relation to the infection agens and the outbreak of disease transmission mechanism, age and gender, location and seasonality of disease. 855 JMBFS / Zeleňáková et al. 2012 : 1 (February Special issue) 855-867 Keywords: campylobacteriosis, changes in epidemiology, Slovak Republic, European Union, statistical analysis INTRODUCTION Over the past 20 years, there has been a major change in the epidemiology of foodborne illness. Many factors have contributed to the change, including genetic factors, host susceptiblity, new foodborne zoonoses, antibicrobial resistance, and a substantial increase in international travel and in globalization of food trade (Logue et al., 2007). The control of food-borne zoonoses within the European Union is a prerequisite for assuring a functional internal market and consequently represents an important item on the political agenda. Unfortunately, until recently, gaining a clear view of the current incidence of food-borne zoonoses and the prevalence of its causative agents has been frustrated by the absence of reliable monitoring and reporting systems (Smulders et al., 2008). The European Community system for monitoring and collection of information on zoonotic agents in foodstuffs and animals is based on the Zoonoses Directive 2003/99/EC, which obligates the European Union (EU) Member States to collect relevant and where applicable comparable data of zoonoses, zoonotic agents, antimicrobial resistance and foodborne outbreaks. The Member States (MSs) transmit to the European Commission, every year, a report covering the data collected. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is assigned the tasks of examining the data collected and publishing the Community Summary Report. This Report is prepared in collaboration with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and EFSA’s Zoonoses Collaboration Centre (Lahuerta et al., 2009). The latest findings published by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) regarding zoonoses in the European Union (EU) in corroborate the fact that campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis remain the most frequently reported zoonoses in the EU (Fosse et al., 2008). Campylobacteriosis in humans is caused by thermophilic Campylobacter spp. Campylobacter spp. are obligate microaerophiles and most of them grow optimally at 42 °C. Because of difficulties in culturing the organism, in the past, Campylobacter outbreaks were reported as caused by unknown agents or erroneously by other organisms, especially Salmonella spp. Campylobacter spp. do not survive well in food, and are relatively fragile and readily killed by heat treatments (Doorduyn et al., 2008). Campylobacter jejuni has the ability to survive refrigeration and freezing, which is of obvious relevance to food safety and public health. Similar to other microorganisms, C. jejuni isolates can produce stress proteins, which enhance the ability of the organism to survive in adverse 856 JMBFS / Zeleňáková et al. 2012 : 1 (February Special issue) 855-867 environments (Palyada et al., 2009). Thermophilic Campylobacter spp. are widespread in nature. The principal reservoirs are the alimentary tracts of wild and domesticated birds and mammals. They are prevalent in food animals such as poultry, cattle, pigs and sheep; in pets, including cats and dogs; in wild birds and in environmental water sources. Animals, however, rarely succumb to disease caused by these organisms. The bacteria can readily contaminate various foodstuffs, including meat, raw milk and dairy products, and less frequently fish and fishery products, mussels and fresh vegetables. Raw milk and contaminated drinking water have been causes of larger outbreaks (Montserrat and Yuste, 2009). The species most commonly associated with human infection are C. jejuni followed by C. coli, and C. lari, but other Campylobacter species are also known to cause human infection (Hofreuter et al., 2006). Campylobacteriosis usually occur during the summer months. The infective dose of C. jejuni is quite low: less than 100 organisms can cause disease. The incubation period in humans averages from two to five days and involves diarrhea (sometimes bloody), fever, and abdominal cramping as well as complications such as reactive arthritis, pancreatitis, meningitis, endocarditis, and Guillain–Barré syndrome (Yan et al.,2005; Ray and Bhunia, 2008; Godschalk et al.,2006). In association with analysis of temporal trends, spatial analysis is also useful to detect changes in the geographic range of zoonoses. In this context, spatial analysis can contribute to the identification of emerging epidemiological situations. In general the risk of diseases may vary in different spatial locations due to spatial variations in the distribution of susceptible populations and of risk factors. Such a spatial heterogeneity may occur on different scales and also over large geographic areas. Moreover, even within short distances, the risk of disease may be more similar in neighbouring locations than in locations further apart (Dohoo et al., 2009). Developed countries have used for a long time systems of surveillance of food safety problems. However, many outbreaks of food poisoning are (...truncated)