90 



STATEMENT OF 

 PAUL BLAKE, M.D. 



CHIEF, FOODBORNE AND DIARRHEAL DISEASES BRANCH 

 DIVISION OF BACTERIAL AND MYCOTIC DISEASES 



NATIONAL CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES 



CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION 



U. S. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 



BEFORE THE 



SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES MANAGEMENT 



COMMITTEE ON MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES 



U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



JUNE 23, 1993 



I am Dr. Paul Blake, Chief of the Foodborne and Diarrheal 

 Diseases Branch of the Division of Bacterial and Mycotic 

 Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for 

 Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . I am pleased to respond to 

 the Subcommittee's invitation to discuss seafood-borne disease 

 surveillance and CDC's role in preventing foodborne disease and 

 characterizing foodborne hazards. As the Nation's Prevention 

 Agency, CDC has knowledge, skills, and perspective that are 

 critical to a comprehensive, science-based program for foodborne 

 disease prevention. 



Foodborne disease is a common and preventable public health 

 problem. Over 80 million foodborne illnesses are estimated to 

 occur each year in the United States.' Data suggest that 

 foodborne disease is an ever-changing public health challenge- -a 

 problem of emerging infectious disease. The recent Institute of 

 Medicine (lOM) report. Emerging Infections , identifies six 

 factors that can lead to emerging microbial threats- -changes in 

 human demographics and behavior, technologic advances, economic 

 development and land use, international travel and trade, 

 microbial adaptation, and a breakdovm of public health measures. 

 Each of these factors has had an impact on the safety of our food 

 supply. With your permission, I would like to submit a copy of 

 the Executive Summary of the lOM report for the hearing record. 



* Archer DL, Kvenberg JE. Incidence and cost of diarrheal 

 disease in the United States. Journal of Food Protection 

 1985;48:887-94. 



Like most other foods, finfish and shellfish have been 

 recognized as potential sources of foodborne disease since 

 ancient times. Seafood can become contaminated with disease- 

 causing microorganisms and toxins while living in the natural 

 aquatic environment, and from sewage and industrial pollution of 

 harvest areas, as well as while being processed, distributed, or 

 prepared. The greatest likelihood of illness is associated with 

 shellfish eaten raw. The special nature of the seafood- 

 associated diseases, and the special nature of the fishing 

 industry, suggest that measures to reduce these diseases need to 

 be tailored specifically to the diseases involved. Epidemiologic 

 data on the nature of foodborne diseases are necessary to design 

 these focused risk management strategies. 



The tools CDC has developed to identify foodborne hazards 

 and to characterize the risk to the public's health posed by 

 those hazards are the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance 

 System, intensive epidemiologic and laboratory investigations of 

 foodborne disease outbreaks, surveys and studies of specific 

 foodborne diseases, laboratory-based surveillance of specific 

 foodborne microorganisms, and analysis of strains of foodborne 

 microorganisms submitted to our reference diagnostic 

 laboratories. I would like to focus most of today's discussion 

 on CDC's Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance- System. 



CDC has maintained a national foodborne disease outbreak 

 surveillance system since 1967. The system consists primarily of 



