The country ranks third in the EU for reported cases of listeriosis, which is caused by a common bacteria that withstands freezing temperatures and oxygen starvation
On a European scale, Spain had the third highest incidence of reported listeriosis cases in 2016, trailing Germany and France, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
The epidemiologist Zaida Herrador from the Carlos III Health Institute is the main author of the biggest research effort to date on the incidence of listeria in Spain. From 1997 to 2015, a total of 5,696 people were admitted to hospital for listeriosis. Almost 1,000 of these cases proved lethal (17%) in a trend that has seen the average figure of 20 annual deaths two decades ago rise to an average of 70 in recent years. “It’s a growing problem, and there is still a lot to be investigated,” says Herrador. “We can see that the number of cases is growing noticeably, but presumably this is because they are being reported more. It wasn’t an illness that had to be declared until 2015.”
FoodWorld 