Surveillance of Human Cases of Salmonellosis, Campylobacteriosis, Listeriosis, and Hepatitis A in Campania (Southern Italy): Seven-Year Monitoring (2013-2019)

Abstract

Foodborne infections cause illness and death every year worldwide. The aim of this study was to describe trends in 2013-2019 in the occurrence of human cases of salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, listeriosis, and hepatitis A in the Campania region. Human case data were provided by the National Surveillance System of disease and were grouped by year, province, age group, and sex. Moreover, the number of people hospitalized was recorded. In the Campania region, the total number of confirmed human cases for the diseases investigated was 1924, with Hepatitis A and the Salmonellosis as the first most reported (1009 and 825 cases, respectively). The incidence rates of gastroenteritis under study were lower than those in Italy and European Union in the same period, with the exception of Hepatitis A whose incidence was higher than that recorded in Italy. Data on hospitalizations pointed out the onset of severe forms of infection also for listeriosis and campylobacteriosis, whose incidence was very low (27 and 63 cases, respectively). Unfortunately, no information on the foods implicated is available. Although probably underestimated, gastroenteritis due to foodborne agents still represents a burden in Campania, and continuous monitoring and implementation of the currently available regional surveillance system is required.

Keywords: campylobacteriosis; foodborne diseases; hepatitis A; listeriosis; salmonellosis; surveillance system.

Figure 1

Number of hospitalized patients with campylobacteriosis, hepatitis A, listeriosis, and salmonellosis per year.

Figure 2

Distribution of confirmed cases of campylobacteriosis, hepatitis A, listeriosis, and salmonellosis by year.

Figure 3

(a) Incidence of campylobacteriosis, hepatitis A, listeriosis, and salmonellosis, measured as the number of new cases of disease per 100,000 individuals in Campania (calculated on the whole population residing in the Campania Region between 2013 and 2019, https://demo.istat.it, accessed on 21 April 2022). (b) Comparison between the incidence data of Campania Region with those reported by the EFSA/ECDC (http://atlas.ecdc.europa.eu/public/index.aspx, accessed on 16 March 2022) in Italy and EU by year (2013–2019).

Figure 4

Incidence of campylobacteriosis, hepatitis A, listeriosis, and salmonellosis, measured as the number of new cases of disease per 100,000 female (pink line) and male (blue line) individuals in Campania (calculated on the female and male population residing in the Campania Region between 2013 and 2019, https://demo.istat.it, accessed on 21 April 2022) by year.

Figure 5

Mean annual incidence of campylobacteriosis, hepatitis A, listeriosis, and salmonellosis, measured as the number of new cases of disease per 100,000 individuals in Campania, by age and from 2013 to 2019. The mean age-specific incidence was calculated on the number of individuals per each age group (0–4 years, 5–14, 15–24, 25–44, 45–64, and 65 years and older) residing in the Campania Region between 2013 and 2019 (https://demo.istat.it, accessed on 21 April 2022). Statistical analysis was performed comparing the age-group with each other. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. Different superscript uppercase letters indicate a significant difference at p < 0.01. Different superscript lowercase letters indicate a significant difference at p < 0.05.

Figure 6

Geographical distribution in the Campania region (southern Italy) of disease notifications, underlining the prevalence in each province: Avellino (AV), Benevento (BN), Caserta (CE), Napoli (NA) and Salerno (SA). The results are expressed as the total number of confirmed cases in each province from 2013 to 2019.