Study Overview
Diarrhoea and vomiting (D&V) caused by bacteria, viruses or other infectious agents are common but frequently preventable illnesses. Although the symptoms are often mild, the number of people who may be affected makes D&V a very significant public health problem. In the mid 1990s researchers found that around 1 in 5 members of the population in England suffered from infectious D&V each year. The cost of this large disease burden to people affected, their employers and the NHS was in the region of three quarters of a billion pounds. A substantial amount of D&V is caused by eating contaminated food.
In 2000 the Government set up the Food Standards Agency. Its mission was to reduce foodborne disease by 20% in 5 years. There is no single official information source that tells us how many people in the community suffer from D&V. The official statistics that exist tell only part of the story and may be inaccurate.
This study will tell us how many people in the community are suffering from D&V and whether or not the Food Standards Agency’s target has been met. This research will be used by the Food Standards Agency to work out whether or not they need to do more to clean up our food supply.
