Each year, millions of persons become ill from foodborne diseases, though many cases are not reported. The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), the primary foodborne diseases component of CDC's Emerging Infections Program (1), was developed to better characterize, understand, and respond to foodborne illnesses in the United States. This report describes FoodNet surveillance data from 1997, the second year of surveillance, and compares findings with data from 1996.
