11.12.2021

Campylobacteriosis was the most reported zoonosis in the EU in 2020, with 120,946 cases compared to more than 220,000 the previous year. In 2020, the number of confirmed cases of human campylobacteriosis totaled 120,946, corresponding to an EU notification rate of 40.3 per 100,000 population. This is a decrease of 33.4% and 25.4% compared with the rate in 2019 (60.6 and 54.0 per 100,000 population) with and without the 2019 data from the United Kingdom, respectively. The highest country-specific notification rates in 2020 were observed in Czechia (163.8 cases per 100,000). In 2020, Campylobacter was the fourth most frequent cause of foodborne outbreaks reported by 17 MS at EU level. In total, 317 outbreaks caused by Campylobacter were reported to EFSA, including 1,319 cases of illness, 112 hospitalisations and no deaths. Eleven outbreaks were reported with strong evidence and 306 with weak evidence.
The most common food vehicles for the strong-evidence campylobacteriosis foodborne outbreaks were ‘broiler meat’ and ‘raw milk’, as in previous years.