J Agric Med Community Health.  2023 Jun;48(2):132-143. 10.5393/JAMCH.2023.48.2.132.

Characteristics of Water- and Foodborne Disease’s Reports in Korea National Notifiable Infectious Disease Surveillance System, 2012-2021

• Won J
• Kim BI
• Kim H
• Gwack J
• Nam HS

• KMID: 2549228
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5393/JAMCH.2023.48.2.132

Abstract

Objectives
We aimed to describe the reporting patterns of 6 notifiable surveillance diseases in the Republic of Korea, including water- and foodborne infections, from 2012 to 2021.
Methods
For the 12,296 cases that met the reporting criteria, we calculated the number of reported cases, including the number of cases confirmed by lab tests or suspected by a physician, the number of cases with delayed reporting and their average days of delay, and the median days required to report the confirmatory test results.
Results
The overall number of reported cases consistently increased over the ten years, with a significant rise in the reported cases of typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, and EHEC. Ninety-five percent of all reported cases were timely reported within one day of diagnosis. Vibrio vulnificus had the highest rate of delayed reporting (6.8% delayed over 1 day, 3.0% delayed over 3 days), while cholera had the lowest rate (1.9% delayed over 1 day, 0.1% delayed over 3 days). The average days of delayed reporting was 6.1 days: the highest for paratyphoid fever (10.8 days) and the lowest for cholera (2.7 days). For typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever, there has been an increase in the proportion of cases with negative test results. For vibrio vulnificus, there has been an increase in the proportion of cases with confirmed positive test results. As for EHEC, there has been a recent increase in cases with no confirmatory tests.
Conclusions
Reported cases of water- and foodborne infectious diseases increased, indicating improved surveillance system completeness. However, for paratyphoid fever, improvements are needed in terms of timely notification by healthcare facilities and timely reporting of confirmatory test results.

Keyword

Surveillance; Waterborne disease; Foodborne disease