Historic and current incidence of foodborne pathognens

April 1, 2008 1:42 PM

Please point me towards some useful data on foodborne pathogens. Specifically, I'm looking for incidence. Historic, current and emerging pathogens are all up for grabs. More inside of course...

Basically what I would like to do is plot the relative incidence of the biggest offenders over time, starting with the pre-antibiotic/food safety/immunization era up to present. I need to talk about trends in the pathogens over time, the problem is finding older data or data that is consistent. Global data would be best, but I'd settle for anything as long as it's consistent. Bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, prions and toxins are all fair game.

posted by sero_venientibus_ossa to Health & Fitness (4 answers total)

Best answer: The FDA's Bad Bug Book is a good place to start. You can find historical incidences of many illnesses there, and plenty of references to other work.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 1:51 PM on April 1, 2008

"An estimated 76 million cases of foodborne disease occur each year in the United States. "

This CDC page has some good general info and a few links.
posted by pointystick at 2:14 PM on April 1, 2008

Anthony Bourdain's book about typhoid Mary.
posted by gjc at 7:30 PM on April 1, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks for the links. Was looking more for statistical info ( = incidence) rather than info about microbes, etc. There is a bit on the 'bad bug book' but I was hoping for something a bit more complete. Thanks anyway.
posted by sero_venientibus_ossa at 10:36 AM on April 2, 2008