Abstract

Background: The objectives of this paper were to determine the overall number of diseases, deaths, and Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) caused by viral foodborne diseases (FBDs). An extensive search scheme was performed using several search terms; disease burden, foodborne disease, and foodborne viruses.

Methods: The obtained results were subsequently screened based on title, abstract, and, finally, full text. Relevant evidence on human food-borne virus diseases (prevalence, morbidity, and mortality) was selected. Of all viral foodborne diseases, norovirus was the most predominant one.

Results: The incidence rates of norovirus foodborne diseases ranged from 11 to 2,643 cases in Asia and from 418 to 9,200,000 in the USA and Europe. Norovirus had a high burden of disease Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) compared with other foodborne diseases. North America was reported as a country with a high burden of disease (DALYs = 9900) and illness costs.

Discussion: High variability of prevalence and incidence were observed in different regions and countries. Food-borne viruses pose a considerable burden on poor health throughout the world.

Conclusion: We suggest the addition of foodborne viruses to the global burden of disease, and relevant evidence can be used to improve public health.

Keywords: Foodborne disease, global burden, viruses, public health, norovirus, rotavirus, sapovirus, adenovirus, hepatitis A, astrovirus, hepatitis E, Aichi virus.