Campylobacter, Salmonella and Listeria are among a handful of foodborne pathogens that cost the US billions of dollars a year and blight the quality of life for millions of victims, according to new research.
The study from the University of Florida ranking the top ten riskiest combinations of bacteria and foods found that just 14 pathogens cause $14.1bn dollars in cost of illness and kill an estimated 1,322 people annually.
More than 90 per cent of the cost burden – some $12.7bn - is caused by just five bacteria: Campylobacter spp, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, toxoplasma gondi and norovirus, said the group from the body’s Emerging Pathogen Institute.
The scientists also calculated the effect the pathogens have in loss of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY) – a measurement of health-related quality of life. They found the line up of 14 bugs cost Americans more than 61,000 QALY a year.
The two parameters included the cost of medical care and lost productivity from employee sick days, as well as the expense of serious complications or chronic disabilities that result from the acute illness.
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