Shigella was the third most common food-borne illness in the United States during 2008, according to the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) of CDC’s Emerging Infections Program, which collects data from 10 U.S. states.

The number of infections and incidence per 100,000 population were reported as follows:

  • Salmonella (7,444; 16.20),
  • Campylobacter (5,825; 12.68),
  • Shigella (3,029; 6.59),
  • Cryptosporidium (1,036; 2.25),
  • STEC O157 (513; 1.12),
  • STEC non-O157 (205; 0.45),
  • Yersinia (164; 0.36),
  • Listeria (135; 0.29),
  • Vibrio (131; 0.29),
  • and Cyclospora (17; 0.04).

See the chart below for details. Go here for details on the study.

TABLE 1. Incidence* of laboratory-confirmed bacterial and parasitic infection in 2008† and postdiarrheal hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in 2007, by site and pathogen, compared with national health objectives§ — Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, United States Pathogen California Colorado Connecticut Georgia Maryland Minnesota New Mexico New York Oregon Tennessee Overall 2008 National health objective§ Bacteria Campylobacter 30.23 14.36 15.13 7.15 6.66 16.97 17.97 11.20 18.20 7.68 12.68 12.30 Listeria 0.65 0.15 0.46 0.27 0.30 0.13 0.25 0.45 0.16 0.23 0.29 0.24 Salmonella 14.62 12.48 14.10 23.97 15.02 14.53 26.40 10.15 10.59 14.63 16.20 6.80 Shigella 4.83 3.15 1.14 11.51 2.05 5.96 8.02 0.77 1.97 15.56 6.59 —¶ STEC** O157 1.14 3.04 0.74 0.44 0.59 2.27 0.81 1.20 1.49 0.84 1.12 1.00 STEC non-O157 0.06 0.89 0.49 0.26 0.55 0.98 1.47 0.40 0.13 0.06 0.45 — Vibrio 0.65 0.15 0.40 0.20 0.59 0.15 0.10 0.19 0.32 0.16 0.29 — Yersinia 0.34 0.26 0.43 0.47 0.23 0.33 0.15 0.45 0.40 0.31 0.36 — Parasites Cryptosporidium 1.32 1.00 1.17 2.66 0.94 4.50 8.83 2.65 1.44 0.70 2.25 — Cyclospora 0.00 0.00 0.11 0.02 0.05 0.06 0.10 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.04 — HUS†† 2.43 0.98 0.47 1.08 0.27 2.83 — 1.31 2.54 3.91 1.75 0.90 Surveillance population (millions) 3.25 2.70 3.50 9.54 5.62 5.20 1.97 4.27 3.75 6.16 45.95 * Per 100,000 population. † Data for 2008 are preliminary. § Current Healthy People 2010 objective 10-1 targets for incidence of Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157, and Listeria infections, and HUS. ¶ No national health objective exists for these pathogens. ** Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli. †† Incidence of postdiarrheal HUS in children aged <5 years; denominator is surveillance population aged <5 years in sites that conduct hospital discharge data review (New Mexico excluded).