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Photo: CC0 via PickPik
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More people in the Netherlands became ill last year from food infections and poisoning.
Fewer outbreaks of diseases have been registered, health institute RIVM reports.
In total, there were 735 outbreaks of infectious diseases in the past year, with 3,058 people becoming ill. In 2018, that number was still 756 outbreaks with 2,805 sick. But whether there were fewer outbreaks in the past year or whether there were only fewer reports is not known, according to the institute. An outbreak is when two or more people get sick at the same time after eating the same food.
As in previous years, norovirus was the most common pathogen.
The figures for food infections and poisoning come from the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) and the GGDs. According to the RIVM, the figures mentioned are lower than the actual number of food-related outbreaks and the number of sick people. This is partly because not everyone who is ill goes to a doctor or informs the NVWA. The actual number of these infections in the Netherlands is estimated at around 650,000 per year, according to the institute.
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