Food related illnesses

Foodborne illness is a common, costly, sometimes life threatening—yet largely preventable—public health problem. Food borne diseases (FBD) are acute illnesses associated with the recent consumption of food. The food involved is usually contaminated with a disease pathogen or toxicant.

The CDC estimates that about 90% of all foodborne illness in United States is caused by the following seven (7) pathogens: Norovirus, Salmonella, Clostridium perfrigens, Campylobacter, Listeria, E. coli 0157:H7 and Toxoplasma.

What are the symptoms? Symptoms range from relatively mild discomfort to very serious, life-threatening illness. While not all gastroenteritis is foodborne, and not all foodborne diseases cause gastroenteritis, food does represent an important vehicle for pathogens of substantial public health significance.

Food borne diseases are classified into:
1. Food borne infections and
2. Food borne intoxications
Food related illnesses

Kauffmann-White scheme

Salmonella is named after an American bacteriologist, D. E. Salmon, who first isolated Salmonella choleraesuis from porcine intestine in 1884.

Prior to 1966, serovar “names” were assigned irrespective of subspecies, for example, Salmonella Marina, Salmonella Bongor, and Salmonella Daressalaam.

In 1966 it was proposed by Kauffmann that every Salmonella serovar is thought of as individual separate species. It is the most significant advance in the accurate definition of salmonellae of importance in human and veterinary medicine emerged from the pioneering serological studies of White, later amplified by Kauffmann.

There are currently 2,463 serotypes (serovars) of Salmonella. The antigenic formulae of Salmonella serotypes are defined and maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Salmonella at the Pasteur Institute, Paris, France (WHO Collaborating Centre), and new serotypes are listed in annual updates of the Kauffmann-White scheme.

The different species are serotyped according to three different antigens:
H (flagellar) antigen – may occur in either or both of two forms, phase 1 and phase 2
O (somatic) antigens
Vi (capsular) antigen

Once the O, H phase are identified, the antigenic formula can be used to identify the serotype by referring to a Kauffman-White reference catalog.

The first publication of the Kauffmann-White scheme listed 44 serovars. When F. Kauffmann retired in 1964, the scheme contained 958 serovars.
Kauffmann-White scheme