Opinion: PulseNet identifies and stops foodborne illness outbreaks. Health care needs something similar

The recently ended Boar’s Head listeria outbreak, which has caused 57 infections and nine deaths, is just one of the many foodborne illness incidents that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detects each year using its PulseNet system. Many people might not realize the extensive effort behind PulseNet, which systematically collects data on foodborne illnesses from patients across the U.S., performs genomic fingerprinting, and traces outbreaks back to their sources. This network of surveillance has been alerting the public to foodborne outbreaks and recalls for years.

PulseNet detects outbreaks — it doesn’t prevent them. Yet, the public can take some comfort in knowing that PulseNet is in place to catch these failures when they occur and contain foodborne illness outbreaks before they spiral out of control. Recently, it may feel like the number of foodborne outbreaks has been increasing, but this is partly because PulseNet has adopted more advanced tools, enabling better detection of these outbreaks.

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