Abstract

Salmonellosis is one of the most commonly reported foodborne diseases that affect human health with subsequent economic losses. Salmonellosis is considered a disease with public health burden globally. Efficient surveillance systems for disease monitoring and reporting are important for measuring health burden and planning controlled measures based. In this study, the characterization of salmonellosis in KSA from 2013-2017 is presented. Incidence data were obtained from the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) data for laboratory-confirmed cases. Extracted incidence data were analyzed according to the nationality of the patients (Saudi and non-Saudi), gender (male and female), age, health provinces (20 health provinces throughout KSA), and months. From 2013-2017, there were 5202 (mean; 1040.4) cases of salmonellosis reported. The average incidence rate over 5 years period per 100000 people (A.I.R/5YR) was 3.30. A.I.R/5YR was 3.451 for Saudi patients and 2.995 for non-Saudi patients (p-value: 0.0032). Among males and females, A.I.R/5YR was 3.429 for male and 3.316 for female (p-value; 0.014). Among < 15 and ≥ 15 age groups, A.I.R/5YRs were 6.04 and 2.221 for < 15 and ≥ 15 (p-value: 0.613), respectively. Salmonellosis highest A.I.R/5YR according to health provinces 14.13 in the Eastern province. The highest incidences by months were reported from August to October. In comparison to reported regional and global incidence rates for salmonellosis, reported rates in KSA are likely to be underestimated. In estimating salmonellosis incidence, and in where a country-specific multiplier is not available, it is possible to apply a multiplier of a neighbouring country or of the region to calculate a more accurate disease incidence. Thus, and by re-estimating incidence according to regional and global multipliers, the officially reported incidences of salmonellosis in KSA are likely to be underestimated by 37.6 to 345.36 folds.

Key words: Salmonellosis, Saudi Arabia, foodborne disease, underestimation, burden