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Campylobacter species are a leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States, but few population-based data describing patterns and trends of disease are available. We summarize data on culture-confirmed cases of Campylobacter infection reported during 1996-1999 to the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) system. The average annual culture-confirmed incidence was 21.9 cases/100,000 population, with substantial site variation (from 43.8 cases/100,000 population in California to 12.2 cases/100,000 population in Georgia). The incidence among male subjects was consistently higher than that among female subjects in all age groups. The incidence trended downward over the 4 years, with incidences of 23.6, 25.2, 21.4, and 17.5 cases/100,000 population for 1996-1999, respectively--a 26% overall decrease. This trend was sharpest and most consistent in California. Overall, we estimate that ~2 million people were infected with Campylobacter in the United States each year during this time period. Although the number of Campylobacter infections appears to have decreased in the United States during 1996-1999, the disease burden remains significant, which underscores the need to better understand how the disease is transmitted.

Treatment of food-producing animals with antimicrobial agents that are important in human therapy may present a public health risk by the transfer of resistant zoonotic pathogens from animals to humans. Resistant bacteria can diminish the effectiveness of antibiotics and demand the use of more expensive or less safe alternatives. In 1996, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) established the National Antimicrobial Monitoring System to prospectively monitor changes in antimicrobial susceptibilities of zoonotic pathogens from human and animal clinical specimens, healthy farm animals, and carcasses of food-producing animals at slaughter plants. This article describes the development, implementation, and objectives of the monitoring system and presents initial data generated by the system.

This article describes preliminary surveillance data for 2007 accumulated by the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data showed that the foodborne diseases are caused by Campylobacter, Listeria, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157, Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio and Yersinia. The data also revealed that Cryptosporidium infections increased in 2007 compared with 2004-2006.