The Analysis And Strategy Discussion Of Community Active Monitoring Work On Foodborne Disease In Tongxiang

ObjectiveDisease caused by food pollution has become one of the most serious sanitation problems in today’s world. The incidence rate of foodborne disease which has reached the second place in the overall incidence of various diseases, is receiving more and more attentions. China has begun its monitoring of foodborne disease since the year2011, and as a test unit of active surveillance on community population in Zhejiang Province, Tongxiang has done a great deal of work in information collection and monitoring analysis. Through a study on the foodborne diseases in Tongxiang community groups of2011, with a focus on the most common disease of acute gastroenteritis, this project attempts to analyze the active surveillance work to find out the distribution and related risk factors of foodborne disease at Tongxiang and provide a scientific basis for the monitoring of and warning against foodborne disease.MethodsThis project carries out a retrospective cross-sectional survey in local towns and blocks from January to December of2011. Among the registered population of the whole city, the researchers select200people at random whose birthday is about to conduct a door interview every month, using questionnaires to enquire the individual in each family about their morbidity of acute gastroenteritis in the past4weeks, collecting information about demographic information, symptoms, suspicious diet history, medical treatment and socio-economic impacts. Respondents or their parents or guardians should sign their names on the informed consent. If the respondents are children, the survey questions are answered by their parents or guardians.The quality of this survey is controlled through2ways:one is to enhance the technical training and guidance of the investigators, making them fully aware of the importance and significance of the active surveillance work on foodborne disease of community population and help them to grasp the methods of selecting respondents, using survey questionnaires properly and making appropriate enquiries, etc. As for the response rate, all the survey records should be kept to ensure that the response rate of each monitoring point is achieved. The other way is to enhance the supervision of data auditing, including the data of printed questionnaire and database. Each investigator is required to current check the questionnaires, record forms and database to ensure they are correct, logical and complete. The investigators should also random check these records to ensure the quality of the data.ResultsCounting by200people per month, a total of2400people at Tongxiang received this survey, with a100%of the participation rate of sampling contact families. Among the respondents,24people were diagnosed as acute gastroenteritis in the past4weeks, which means that about1person in every100respondents has acquired gastroenteritis in the4weeks before the survey. If it is extrapolated to the whole city, approximately6700people acquired gastroenteritis in the year2011.Through a correlation analysis of the various statistical calibers and prevalence rates, the researcher finds that foodborne diseases mainly set on the age group of15-24, with an obvious increase in days of high temperature, and the morbidity of city groups is higher than countryside groups. Other factors such as the patient’s going-out record, career, family income, and education level also have certain correlations with the morbidity. The routes of foodborne diseases transmission are various. Due to the complexity of people’s exposure to their environment as well as the limitation of the retrospective survey, some patients are uncertain about the pathogenic factor, the suspicious food, and the place of food poisoning. It is estimated that16.67%of the disease cases were caused by contaminated food, and fruits, vegetables and dairy products are considered as the most suspicious causes. According to the outpatient rate of the survey, only12.50%of the patients went to the hospital, and all of the outpatients are above the age of45.33.33%of the clinic patients submitted stool samples,37.50%of them took antidiarrheal,25.00%of them took antibiotics, and8.33%of them reported work or school delays due to the disease.ConclusionIn today’s society where food safety is in various hidden dangers, foodborne disease has increasingly aroused the public concern. People in developed or developing countries, regardless of their nationality, gender, age, may all be endangered by foodborne diseases, therefore, it is necessary to enhance the prevention and control of foodborne diseases. Through one year’s active surveillance for foodborne diseases, Tongxiang has basically mastered the distribution and hidden factors of foodborne diseases in the city, which has laid a good foundation for the next step to the development of effective prevention and control measures.Based on the results of analysis and discussion, this paper attempts to make a few suggestions on how to further enhance active surveillance for foodborne illness, and how to take effective prevention against and control of foodborne disease. First, we should continue to improve the foodborne diseases active surveillance system, expand its coverage, and make use of local conditions to improve its function and mechanism. Second, we should enhance our supervision on food industry and strengthen the effective interactions between different departments. Due to the diversity of transmission routes, the food safety management is particularly important. We should not only prevent food contamination from its source, but also strengthen our supervision in the middle links, which requires the combined efforts of different departments. Third, we should enhance the propaganda to the community population. The survey shows that the low outpatient rate of food-borne diseases has much to do with the patients’ views and values. Therefore, it is necessary to further strengthen the consumers’ awareness of food safety and self-protection, and at the same time to enhance the sense of morality and social responsibility of the merchants. Through these comprehensive measures, we can reduce the risks and hidden factors of foodborne diseases to its minimum, and provide an effective protection for the health of our people.