Norovirus in shellfish and fresh produce
Norovirus accounted for 92% of RASFF - Food and Feed Safety Alerts in 2014.Norovirus is the foremost cause of domestically acquired foodborne infections in general, and the second cause of domestically acquired foodborne illness resulting in hospitalisation. There has been many outbreaks involving fresh produce, fresh and frozen berries and raw/undercooked bivalve mollusks.
Facts about Noroviruses
Burden: The disease burden of Norovirus in Europe is 4 DALY per 100 000 people each year (equals to 33 000 DALY each year). DALY: (Disability Adjusted Life years) is a measure for the total health burden where one DALY can be thought of as one year of “healthy” life lost. Cases: More than 14 mill European citizens suffer from Norovirus infections each year.Deaths: Norovirus causes more than 400 deaths each year. Sources: The most common sources for Norovirus are crustaceans, shellfish and bivalve molluscs.
The estimated total health burden, DALY is four by 100.000. This reflects that a lot of people get ill from the virus, but very many recover after a shorter period of illness.