This study aimed to assess the status of food-borne AD in Thai Nguyen city. The results showed that the incidence of diarrhea in two weeks is rather high (1,39%), of which 94% of cases were AD transmitted by food. Hospital statistics only represented partly its reality, every one case of AD in hospitals was equivalent to 18 cases in the community, one case of AD transmitted by food in hospital was equivalent to 40 cases in the community. | Journal of military pharmaco-medicine 7-2013 REALITY OF FOOD POISONING WITH Acute Diarrhea AT COMMUMNITY OF THAI NGUYEN 2011 Nguyen Hung Long* summary Food-borne acute diarrhea (AD) or food poisoning is one of the leading causes of hospitalization. However, the actual number of foodborne diarrhea is many times bigger than the reporting system data. This study aimed to assess the status of food-borne AD in Thai Nguyen city. The results showed that the incidence of diarrhea in two weeks is rather high (1,39%), of which 94% of cases were AD transmitted by food. Hospital statistics only represented partly its reality, every one case of AD in hospitals was equivalent to 18 cases in the community, one case of AD transmitted by food in hospital was equivalent to 40 cases in the community. The majority of patients with AD had home treatment () and bought pharmacy without prescription () whereas hospital treatment accouted for a small percentage (). * Key words: Food-borne AD; Food poisoning. INTRODUCTION According to the World Health Organization, food-borne disease is a globally important cause of morbidity and mortality [1]. The incidence increased rapidly due to changes in agricultural production, food processing methods, globalization of food distribution and other factors related to the changes in social behavior and population. WHO report (2008), diarrhea alone resulted in million deaths annually, accounting for of all deaths in 2004 and ranked 5th of 10 death causes worldwide [2]. However, the burden of disease and its cost due to unsafe food is not currently sufficient to estimate, especially in developing countries. Using available data from the regular reporting system to estimate is incorrect and incomplete. Even in developed countries, data from the monitoring system proved the fact that a Salmonella cases from reporting system, corresponding to 38 cases in communities in the United States, 15 cases in Australia and 3 cases in the .
