Incidence of campylobacteriosis increased significantly in the United States from 2004 to 2012, according to Aimee Geissler, PhD, and her associates.
A total of 303,520 cases of campylobacteriosis were reported during the study period, with the average incidence rate growing from 10.5 cases per 100,000 persons during 2004-2006 to 12.7 cases per 100,000 persons during 2010-2012, an increase of 21%. The median number of Camplyobacter outbreaks doubled from 28 during 2004-2006 to 56 during 2010-2012; in total, 347 outbreaks were reported. Campylobacteriosis is the nation’s most common bacterial diarrheal illness.
Campylobacteriosis incidence rates were lowest in the South, and highest in the West, and increased in all regions, with the greatest increase seen in the South. Louisiana had the lowest average incidence rate, at 3.1 cases per 100,000 persons, and Hawaii had the highest, at 47.6 cases per 100,000 persons.The study findings “underscore the importance of standardizing national surveillance for campylobacteriosis, which is important in understanding the burden of infection, better describing geographic variations and differences among species, elucidating risk factors, and targeting prevention and control measures,” the investigators concluded.
Find the full study in Clinical Infectious Diseases (2017 Jul 20. doi: 10.1093/cid/cix624).