State has EU's highest rate of E.coli infection, study finds

IRELAND HAS the highest rate of disease-causing E.coli cases in Europe, according to a new report.

The number of “verotoxigenic” E.coli cases reported in Ireland is more than five times the EU average and has almost doubled in the space of a year, according to the report compiled by the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa). Verotoxigenic E.coli affects the digestive system. Some 225 cases were reported in 2008, of which 213 were confirmed. Ireland’s average of 4.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 3.3 in the next highest country, Sweden, and 1.9 in the UK. Irish cases have increased more than threefold in four years.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said the increase may be due to the contamination of private wells by heavy rainfall during the summer of 2008.

Many forms of E.coli bacteria are harmless and live naturally in the gut of humans and animals, but verotoxigenic varieties can cause serious illness and even death in humans. The best-known and most common form is E.coli 0157, which spreads to the human food chain through the faeces of animals.

More than half the Irish cases of E.coli were of the 0157 variety.

The Efsa report on zoonoses (diseases spread between animals and humans) shows a drop to EU average levels in the number of Irish cases of listeriosis. This infection is caused by the listeria bacterium and mostly affects newborns and people with weak immune systems. Symptoms include vomiting, nausea, stomach cramps and diarrhoea. In 2007, 13 cases of listeriosis were reported and confirmed, compared to 21 the previous year and seven in 2005.

Tests revealed that listeria is present in many food products sold in Ireland; 8.1 per cent of pork products tested positive for the bacterium in processing plants, though the incidence on retail shelves was nil. Some 6.4 per cent of poultry meat samples tested positive at the processing plant, and 4.3 per cent at retail. Some 4.3 per cent of ready-to-eat salads were found to contain listeria, and 1.7 per cent of pre-cut fruit and veg. Small levels of listeria in food are generally regarded as acceptable, according to the FSAI.

A total of 5,332 food-borne outbreaks were reported across Europe, causing 32 deaths. There were no deaths in Ireland.

Ireland continues to have the highest rates of bovine tuberculosis in Europe, and rates are increasing, the report shows. More than 7,000 Irish cattle herds, or almost 6 per cent of the total number of herds, are infected, and Ireland accounts for three-quarters of all herds infected in Europe.

The number of cases of human tuberculosis remained constant at five, while the number of confirmed cases of brucellosis in humans fell from seven to two.

Campylobacter was the most widely reported gastrointestinal bug reported across the EU, with more than 190,000 confirmed cases in 2008, according to Efsa.

Another bug that causes food poisoning, salmonella, is far less common here than in other EU states. With 447 reported cases, it affects one in 10,000 Irish people, one-third of the European average.