Importation of Polish trichinellosis cases to Ireland, June 2007

Epidemiology and management of foodborne nematodiasis in the European Union, systematic review 2000-2016

BACKGROUND

Foodborne nematodiasis are caused by the ingestion of food contaminated by helminths. In Europe, these diseases are present in all countries.

OBJECTIVES

To review the available data on epidemiology and management of foodborne nematodiasis in the European Union, detect any trends and determine the possible causes of the observed changes.

METHODS

A review of available literature published between 2000 and 2016 was conducted.

RESULTS

Out of 1523 cases described in the literature, 1493 cases were autochthonous and 30 cases were imported. The detected parasites were Toxocara spp (34.7%), Ascaris lumbricoides (27.1%), Trichinella spp (21.9%), Anisakis spp (15.5%) and Angiostrongylus cantonensis (0.8%).

CONCLUSIONS

Foodborne nematodiasis remains a public health challenge for the European Union. Autochthonous cases of nematodiasis present the greatest health risk within the European Union. Foodborne nematodes due to lack of hygiene in food processing are diseases that can be avoided by increasing.

Trichinellosis in immigrants in Switzerland

We describe a case of trichinellosis diagnosed at the Division of Infectious Diseases, Hospital of Lugano, in January 2009. This case was associated with a cluster of cases and was traced to the consumption of contaminated meat after a wild boar hunt in Bosnia.