Gastrointestinal infections in England: 2022 to 2024
Published 25 March 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gastrointestinal-infections-in-england/gastrointestinal-infections-in-england-2022-to-2024
The annual number of confirmed laboratory reports, in England, and the rate of reporting, are provided for the period 2022 to 2024 for the following categories of gastrointestinal infections (GIs):
- bacterial GIs: Campylobacter species (spp.), Clostridium perfringens, Salmonella (non-typhoidal) serovars, Shigella spp., Vibrio cholerae (O1/O139 and others), Vibrio others, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157, Yersinia spp.
- protozoal GIs: Cryptosporidium spp., Cyclospora spp., Giardia spp.
- viral GIs: Astrovirus and Sapovirus
Listeria monocytogenes data is also provided, covering both England and Wales. All specimen types are included for the data.
The data is accurate as of 17 February 2025; it was extracted from live surveillance systems, therefore the 2024 data is reported as provisional as may be subject to change due to late notifications and de-duplication.
Mid-year 2022 population estimates for England were used to provide denominators for the calculation of the 2022 rates, whereas mid-year 2023 population estimates were used to provide denominators for both the 2023 and 2024 rates for all pathogens with the exception of Listeria monocytogenes, for which mid-year population estimates for England plus Wales were used. All rates are calculated as number of laboratory reports per 100,000 population.
Table 1 shows the quarterly trend for Campylobacter spp. and non-typhoidal Salmonella serovars laboratory reports for 2022 to 2024. Table 2 presents the annual trends for gastrointestinal pathogens for 2022 to 2024. In both cases, the data includes infections acquired overseas.
Key points
Between 2022 and 2024 there was a notable increase in Campylobacter laboratory reports, with the rate per 100,000 population increasing by 27.0% from 96.1 in 2022 to 122.0 in 2024. During this time Salmonella laboratory reports also increased by 24.1% from a rate of 14.5 to 18.0 per 100,000 population. There are likely multiple factors driving these changes and further analyses to provide insight are underway.
In 2023 there was an increase in Cryptosporidium laboratory reports which resulted in the rate almost doubling compared to 2022 with an increase from 6.5 to 11.9 reports per 100,000 population, this was driven by an increase in C. hominis which was also observed across Europe (1). Subsequently, there was a decrease in the rate of reporting from 11.9 to 9.9 reports per 100,000 population in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
Further data analyses will be available when the Campylobacter, Salmonella and Cryptosporidium annual reports for 2024 are published at a later date.
Table 1. Campylobacter species (spp.) and non-typhoidal Salmonella serovars quarterly confirmed laboratory reports (all specimen types) in England by laboratory report date, Q1 2022 to Q4 2024
| Pathogen | Q1 2022 | Q2 2022 | Q3 2022 | Q4 2022 | Total 2022 | Q1 2023 | Q2 2023 | Q3 2023 | Q4 2023 | Total 2023 | Q1 2024* | Q2 2024* | Q3 2024* | Q4 2024* | Total 2024* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Campylobacter spp. | 10,979 | 15,240 | 15,812 | 12,853 | 54,884 | 10,589 | 15,788 | 18,458 | 15,179 | 60,014 | 12,993 | 19,387 | 20,734 | 17,265 | 70,379 |
| Salmonella spp. | 1,221 | 1,921 | 3,104 | 2,044 | 8,290 | 1,329 | 2,126 | 3,102 | 2,317 | 8,874 | 1,541 | 2,387 | 3,747 | 2,713 | 10,388 |
Use the scroll bar to view the quarterly data, 2022-2024; *=Provisional data.
Table 2. Total number of annual confirmed laboratory reports (all specimen types) and annual rate of reporting for gastrointestinal infections in England by laboratory report date (in England and Wales for L. monocytogenes), 2022 to 2024; including infections acquired overseas.
| Pathogen type / Organism name | Reports 2022 | Rate 2022† | Reports 2023 | Rate 2023† | Reports 2024* | Rate 2024† |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BACTERIA | ||||||
| Campylobacter spp. | 54,884 | 96.1 | 60,014 | 104.0 | 70,379 | 122.0 |
| Clostridium perfringens | 1,622 | 2.8 | 1,659 | 2.9 | 1,702 | 3.0 |
| Listeria monocytogenes‡ | 167 | 0.28 | 177 | 0.29 | 178 | 0.29 |
| Salmonella (non-typhoidal) serovars | 8,290 | 14.5 | 8,874 | 15.4 | 10,388 | 18.0 |
| Shigella spp. | 3,421 | 6.0 | 4,530 | 7.9 | 5,155 | 8.9 |
| Vibrio cholerae O1/O139 | 0 | – | 1 | 0.002 | 2 | 0.003 |
| Vibrio cholerae (other) | 36 | 0.06 | 42 | 0.07 | 64 | 0.11 |
| Vibrio (other) | 105 | 0.18 | 110 | 0.19 | 151 | 0.26 |
| STEC O157 | 762 | 1.33 | 538 | 0.93 | 567 | 0.98 |
| Yersinia species | 485 | 0.8 | 454 | 0.8 | 660 | 1.1 |
| PROTOZOA | ||||||
| Cryptosporidium spp. | 3,739 | 6.5 | 6,837 | 11.9 | 5,702 | 9.9 |
| Cyclospora spp. | 55 | 0.1 | 61 | 0.1 | 123 | 0.2 |
| Giardia spp. | 3,582 | 6.3 | 4,594 | 8.0 | 5,442 | 9.4 |
| VIRUSES | ||||||
| Astrovirus | 794 | 1.4 | 1,137 | 2.0 | 1,160 | 2.0 |
| Sapovirus | 1,006 | 1.8 | 1,676 | 2.9 | 1,707 | 3.0 |
*=Provisional data; †=Laboratory reports per 100,000 population; ‡=Data for England and Wales (number and rate); STEC=Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli.
Data sources
Data for all gastrointestinal pathogens (England) was extracted from the Second Generation Surveillance System (SGSS), with the exception of Listeria monocytogenes (England and Wales) from the enhanced Listeria surveillance database, STEC O157 (England) from the national enhanced surveillance system for STEC (NESSS) database and Yersinia species (England) from the enhanced Yersinia surveillance database, all of which are UKHSA databases.
The population data used for England and Wales were sourced from the Office for National Statistics, mid-year 2022 and 2023 estimates are available at Population estimates - Office for National Statistics
Reference
- Schoeps A, Röbl K, Walter N, Neute A, Walter B, Freudenau I and others (2024). ‘Increased number of cryptosporidiosis cases with travel history to Croatia might be related to swimming pools, Germany, 2023’. Eurosurveillance: volume 29, issue 1.