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.
Yersiniosis was the fourth most commonly reported gastrointestinal infection in the EU/EEA after campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in 2022.
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.
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.
For 2021, 6 876 confirmed cases of yersiniosis (caused by Yersinia enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis) were reported by 28 EU/EEA countries with an overall rate of 1.9 cases per 100 000 population. This represented an increase of 11.8% on 2020 and the pre-pandemic period (2017−2019). As in previous years, Germany accounted for the highest number of cases, followed by France. These two countries accounted for 49% of all confirmed yersiniosis cases in the EU/EEA. Denmark had the highest notification rate of 7.8 cases per 100 000 population, followed by Finland, Lithuania and Czechia (Table 1, Figure 1).
Thirty-three percent of 1 649 yersiniosis cases with known information were hospitalised. No deaths were reported among the 3 659 cases with known outcome.
Fleas are ectoparasitic blood-sucking insects with the ability to jump, which commonly infest wild and domestic animals (mainly dogs and cats) but also humans.
The number of reported human cases of illness caused by Campylobacter and Salmonella bacteria across Europe appears to have stabilised over the past five years, according to the latest report on zoonotic diseases by EFSA and ECDC.