Public Health burden of exposure to microbes and parasites originating from pigs and pork

The production and consumption of pork still is an important source of human illness. Quantifying the burden of illness requires the integration of data from a wide variety of sources. First, relevant hazards need to be identified, based on sources such as outbreaks of human illness, and the occurrence of pathogens in pigs, pork and pork products. Then, the incidence of disease due to these pathogens in the population must be assessed. Reported cases only reflect a minor part of all illness and there are different approaches to estimating underreporting factors. The health impact of different pathogens varies widely in severity, duration and associated fatalities