Todd E C
Bureau of Microbial Hazards, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Int J Food Microbiol. 1989 Dec;9(4):313-26. doi: 10.1016/0168-1605(89)90099-8.
Bacterial foodborne disease is increasing in industrialized as well as developing countries. For Canada and the United States many millions of cases are believed to occur each year, based on extrapolations of survey data, human enteric isolations and reported foodborne disease cases. The economic impact of such a large number is probably in billions of dollars but the precise figure is difficult to calculate. Medical costs and lost income are easier to determine than losses to food companies, legal awards and settlements, value of lost leisure time, pain, grief, suffering and death. The evaluation of costs at the national level for Canada and the United States based on all available costs for 61 incidents showed that company losses and legal action are much higher than medical/hospitalization expenses, lost income or investigational costs. It was reckoned that on an annual basis an estimated 1 million cases of acute bacterial foodborne illness in Canada cost nearly $1.1 billion and 5.5 million cases in the United States cost nearly $7 billion. The value of deaths was a major contributor to the overall costs especially for diseases like listeriosis, salmonellosis, Vibrio infections, and haemorrhagic colitis. Salmonellosis is the economically most important disease because it affects all parts of the food system, unlike typhoid fever and botulism, which are largely controlled by public health authorities and the food industry.
在工业化国家和发展中国家，食源性细菌疾病都在增加。根据调查数据、人体肠道细菌分离情况以及报告的食源性疾病病例推断，加拿大和美国每年可能有数百万病例。如此庞大数量的经济影响可能达数十亿美元，但确切数字难以计算。与食品公司的损失、法律赔偿和和解、失去的休闲时间价值、痛苦、悲伤、苦难和死亡相比，医疗费用和收入损失更容易确定。根据61起事件的所有可用成本对加拿大和美国国家层面的成本进行评估表明，公司损失和法律诉讼远高于医疗/住院费用、收入损失或调查成本。据估计，加拿大每年约100万例急性食源性细菌疾病病例的成本近11亿美元，美国550万例病例的成本近70亿美元。死亡的价值是总成本的主要贡献因素，尤其是对于李斯特菌病、沙门氏菌病、弧菌感染和出血性结肠炎等疾病。沙门氏菌病是经济上最重要的疾病，因为它影响食品系统的各个环节，这与伤寒和肉毒中毒不同，后两者在很大程度上由公共卫生当局和食品行业控制。
