CDC –
PulseNet connects cases of foodborne illness to potential outbreaks. PulseNet is a national laboratory network made up of 87 laboratories−at least one in each state. PulseNet connects foodborne illness cases together to detect and define outbreaks using DNA “fingerprinting” of the bacteria making people sick using a standardized process called pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Every state has at least one public health laboratory
that can match up bacteria from sick people in many different locations using PulseNet’s DNA fingerprinting technique and database. PulseNet tracks what is being reported to CDC today compared to what was reported in the past to look for changes. This means that PulseNet keeps a cumulative database representing nearly half a million isolates of bacteria from food, the environment, and human foodborne illness.
Since its beginning in 1996, PulseNet has revolutionized the detection and investigation of foodborne disease outbreaks, especially in multiple sites across the country which, before PulseNet, often went undetected or were detected only after they grew very large.
Foodborne Outbreak Investigations
When two or more people get the same illness from the same contaminated food or drink, the event is called a foodborne disease outbreak. The list on this page primarily represents multistate foodborne outbreak investigations since 2006 where CDC was the lead public health agency. For a complete listing of reported outbreaks please use the Foodborne Outbreak Online Database (FOOD) tool.
Public health officials investigate outbreaks(http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/outbreaks/investigating-outbreaks/investigations/index.html) to control them, so more people do not get sick, and to learn how to prevent similar outbreaks(http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/outbreaks/prevention-education/future.html) from happening in the future.
FoodWorld 