Surveillance and Coordination Key to Reducing Foodborne Illness

摘要

A mysterious outbreak in 2004 involving 35 cases of human tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis in New York City illustrates how changes in the food supply chain can pose challenges for physicians and public health professionals (Winters et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2005;54:605-608). Such outbreaks, now rare, were common before milk was routinely pasteurized, with humans becoming infected after consuming dairy products from infected cows. So when New York City laboratories using improved diagnostic technology discovered the cases of M bovis, they knew something unusual was occurring.