title: The dioxin crisis as experiment to determine poultry-related campylobacter enteritis.
abstract: In June 1999, the dioxin crisis, caused by dioxin-contaminated feed components, exploded in Belgium, resulting in withdrawal of chicken and eggs from the market. Through the sentinel surveillance system, a decrease in Campylobacter infections during June 1999 was noticed. A model was generated with the reports from preceding years (1994 to 1998), and a prediction of the number of infections in 1999 was calculated. The model shows a significant decline (40%) in the number of infections, mainly because of the withdrawal of poultry. The use of a disaster as an epidemiologic tool offers a unique opportunity to observe exceptional changes in the occurrence of infections or other diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Institute of Public Health-Louis Pasteur, Brussels, Belgium. akke.vellinga@ua.ac.be
authors.forename: Akke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vellinga
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Van Loock
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D002167:Campylobacter; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002645:Chickens; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004147:Dioxins / Q000009:adverse effects; D004751:Enteritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D015981:Epidemiologic Factors; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D008954:Models, Biological; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D004147:Dioxins