E. coli, Salmonella, and Campylobacter infection cases decreased in Sweden but there was a rise in cases of Listeriosis in Sweden in 2019.
A report issued by the Swedish National Veterinary Institute (SVA) revealed high records for Yersinia and Cryptosporidium too.
Domestic incidence of Campylobacteriosis decreased in 2019 as compared to 2018 and is continuing to decrease till now.
In 2019, 6,693 cases were reported out of which 2,865 were domestic. Infected individuals were aged between 0 to 97 years old, 47 being the median. The domestic incidence affected adults more than the infants.
Men were more prevalently affected as compared to women.
A survey conducted by the Swedish Food Agency (Livsmedelsverket) in August 2019 analyzed 100 samples of fresh chicken meat collected from retailers. 51 percent of the tested samples showed presence of Campylobacter in them and in 13 percent of samples levels exceeded 10 CFU/g.
From five abattoirs, 419 pooled neck skin samples were collected and tested whose outcomes were at par and only 7 crossed the limit of 1,000 CFU/g.
From 2019, the trend of listeriosis is continuously increasing in Sweden and other EU countries. 113 cases were reported in 2019 while 2018 witnessed only 89 cases. 20 individuals expired within a month of diagnosis. v75 were noted to be the median age and most of the sick people were over 80 years of age. v64 females and 49 males were amongst the infected individuals.
One Swedish case was related to a Norwegian outbreak due to rakfisk, a fermented fish product. The fish was produced in Sweden and was to be fermented in Norway. The infection-carrying strain was found at the Swedish facility.
Sweden had a history of 4 cases from 2015 to 2016 in an epidemic linked to cold-smoked or gravad fish from an Estonian production unit. A rare strain of Listeria monocytogenes in Sweden (ST 91) gave birth to 1 case of listeriosis. An unpasteurized French cheese (Brie de Meaux) sample from the freezer of the patient was detected to be having the outbreak strain.
A report stated-“In 2019 as in previous years, typing using WGS depicted that many of the related cases were geographically dispersed and that the root of infection had lingered for many years.