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High-risk groups

To avoid food-borne illnesses, observe hygiene rules and the cold and heat chain. If you suspect a food to be the cause of a food-borne illness, keep it refrigerated and contact the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC): pointcontact@afsca.be [1] or 0800 13 550. If symptoms persist or worsen, contact your general practitioner. 

Who is at risk?

A food-borne illness can be more or less severe depending on the microorganism or toxin ingested [2] and the health of the infected person.

Some people are at greater risk of contracting a food-borne illness:

  • children
  • the elderly
  • pregnant women
  • immunosuppressed patients (those suffering from cancer, AIDS, etc.).

Contacts

Epidemiology of infectious diseases [3]

Bacterial diseases [5]

Foodborne pathogens [7]

Scientific reports

See more [14]

Peer-reviewed publications

See more [20]

Other publications

See more [26]

Projects

Events

There are currently no events associated to this health topic

Other sources of information

In the media

Source URL:https://www.sciensano.be/en/health-topics/food-borne-illness/high-risk-groups

Links
[1] mailto:pointcontact@afsca.be [2] https://www.sciensano.be/en/health-topics/food-borne-illness [3] https://www.sciensano.be/en/about-sciensano/sciensanos-organogram/epidemiology-infectious-diseases [4] https://www.sciensano.be/en/people/dieter-van-cauteren [5] https://www.sciensano.be/en/about-sciensano/sciensanos-organogram/bacterial-diseases [6] https://www.sciensano.be/en/people/wesley-mattheus [7] https://www.sciensano.be/en/about-sciensano/sciensanos-organogram/foodborne-pathogens [8] https://www.sciensano.be/en/people/laurence-delbrassinne [9] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/toxi-infections-alimentaires-en-belgique-rapport-annuel-2023-0 [10] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/voedselvergiftigingen-belgie-en-vlaanderen-jaaroverzicht-2023 [11] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/voedselvergiftigingen-belgie-jaaroverzicht-2023 [12] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/voedselvergiftigingen-belgie-jaaroverzicht-2022 [13] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/toxi-infections-alimentaires-en-belgique-rapport-annuel-2023 [14] https://www.sciensano.be/en/search/biblio/%2A/category_type/embed_1/health_topic/Food-borne%20illness-347 [15] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/accuracy-immunological-tests-serum-and-urine-diagnosis-taenia-solium-neurocysticercosis-a-systematic [16] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/importance-estimating-burden-disease-foodborne-transmission-trypanosoma-cruzi [17] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/closing-gap-oxford-nanopore-technologies-r10-sequencing-allows-comparable-results-illumina [18] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/closing-gap-oxford-nanopore-technologies-r10-sequencing-allows-comparable-results-illumina-1 [19] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/closing-gap-oxford-nanopore-technologies-r10-sequencing-allows-comparable-results-illumina-0 [20] https://www.sciensano.be/en/search/biblio/%2A/category_type/embed_2/health_topic/Food-borne%20illness-347 [21] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/a-multifaceted-approach-evaluating-hepatitis-e-virus-infectivity-vitro-cell-culture-and-innovative [22] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/introduction-wgs-food-microbiology-advantages-and-challenges [23] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/taenia-solium-cysticercosis-taeniosis-europe-and-central-asia [24] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/assessing-burden-taenia-solium-cysticercosis-burundi-2020 [25] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/burden-and-risk-assessment-foodborne-disease [26] https://www.sciensano.be/en/search/biblio/%2A/category_type/embed_3/health_topic/Food-borne%20illness-347 [27] https://www.sciensano.be/en/projects/union-and-national-capacity-building-integrated-surveillance-u4s [28] https://www.sciensano.be/en/projects/toxigenic-bacillus-cereus-food-towards-a-better-risk-assessment-means-genomic-transcriptomic-and [29] https://www.sciensano.be/en/projects/molecular-database-foodborne-outbreak [30] https://www.sciensano.be/en/projects/foodborne-disease-burden-epidemiology-reference-group [31] http://www.health.belgium.be/fr/alimentation/securite-alimentaire/dangers-microb… [32] http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/salmonella [33] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs139/fr//// [34] https://www.sciensano.be/en/press-corner/acute-gastroenteritis-cost-belgian-economy-hundreds-millions-euros-every-year