Large concomitant outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis emergency visits in adults and food-borne events suspected to be linked to raw shellfish, France, December 2019 to January 2020

Abstract

On 27 December 2019, the French Public Health Agency identified a large increase in the number of acute gastroenteritis and vomiting visits, both in emergency departments and in emergency general practitioners’ associations providing house-calls. In parallel, on 26 and 27 December, an unusual number of food-borne events suspected to be linked to the consumption of raw shellfish were reported through the mandatory reporting surveillance system. This paper describes these concomitant outbreaks and the investigations’ results.