The food-borne infections listeriosis and shigatoxigenic Escherichia coli are increasing in the EU/EEA and were in 2022 at levels higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
For 2022, 29 European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries reported 8 565 confirmed cases of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infection.
In 2022, the first and second most reported zoonoses in humans were campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis, respectively. The number of cases of campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis remained stable in comparison with 2021.
Campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis were the most frequently reported zoonotic diseases in humans in the EU in 2022. For West Nile virus, an increase of the number of infections was observed.
For 2021, 6 534 confirmed cases of STEC infection were reported by 30 EU/EEA countries (Table 1). Twenty-seven countries reported at least two confirmed cases, and three countries reported no cases. The EU/EEA notification rate was 2.2 cases per 100 000 population, representing a 37.5% increase compared with the previous year.
Hepatitis A cases in 2021 were at their lowest levels since EU-level hepatitis A surveillance began in 2007, while five other food and waterborne diseases are rising towards pre-pandemic levels. The information is revealed in the Annual Epidemiological Report 2021, of which six chapters are published today by ECDC.
This report of the European Food Safety Authority and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control presents the results of zoonoses monitoring and surveillance activities carried out in 2021 in 27 MSs, the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) and nine non-MSs.