Cronobacter to be Added to the List of Nationally Notifiable Diseases
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On June 29, 2023, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CTSE) voted to make Cronobacter sakazakii a nationally notifiable disease, requiring health departments in the U.S. to track and report cases of C. sakazakii to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The decision follows a prolific foodborne illness outbreak linked to powdered infant formula products contaminated by the pathogen that occurred in 2022, and a subsequent large-scale recall that caused a national shortage of the crucial food.
C. sakazakii is set to be added to the list of nationally notifiable diseases in 2024, after which point doctors and laboratories will be required to report cases of infection in infants less than one year of age to state health departments.
The decision was advocated for by many stakeholder groups, as well as by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in its November 2022 prevention strategy for C. sakazakii in powdered infant formula.
Other foodborne pathogens on the list of nationally notifiable diseases include Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Listeria monocytogenes.
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