Doha - Qatar is witnessing a spurt in food-borne diseases over the years. The current year has witnessed an alarming rate of Food Borne Infected (FBI) cases, said Dr Syed Fazal Shah, Consultant Epidemiologist, head of Communicable Disease Control & Protection, EPI Manager, National Health Authority (NHA).
He was addressing a workshop here yesterday on 'Safe food practice' organised by NHA to formulate fresh guidelines for food safety regulations in Qatar.
Dr Shah said there were days when the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) had reported over 300 cases of food borne diseases in a single day. The average annual rate of food borne infection cases reported at HMC is around 3000, he said
Stating that the phenomenon is on the increase, Dr Shah said a total of 24,180 food- handlers had undergone typhoid vaccination during the year 2004. The figure went up to 31,925 during the next year. The 2006 figure shot up to an alarming 41,328. As per the available data, the rate of current year is surprisingly high, he said.
In the food-handling sector alone, HMC had detected less than 4,000 labourers unfit for work due to poor health, in 2006. According Dr Shah, the situation is more serious with the fast food outlets. Major outbreaks are also often reported from various labour camps.
"People belonging to all regions, nationalities and of all ages, are affected by Food Borne Infection (FBI). The data available with NHA seems to be just a tip of an iceberg", he said.
Dr Shah said search for new cases in addition to collection of demographic information, travel and details of the foods consumed are done by the Communicable Disease Control (CDC) section in order to calculate attack rate and source of food production. There is a severe under reporting of the food-borne diseases and the statistics do not reflect the true burden of the diseases in Qatar, he added.
© The Peninsula 2007
