Vibrio parahaemolyticus: The protagonist causing foodborne diseases

Food contamination is a worrying condition faced by us today. We often discuss on food safety and how to control food contamination. Food products are easily tainted by bacteria at any level of food production to human consumption, subsequently developing gastroenteritis. The people from developed and developing countries are at high risk from harmful effects of unsafe food. Of all the foodborne pathogens, Vibrio parahaemolyticus has been accounted for many outbreaks globally and still at rise even with proper management methods. V. parahaemolyticus infection occurs as a result of improper food handling and preparation, ability of the bacterium to withstand human gut to launch virulence, antibiotic resistant bacte-rium, and failure of regulatory bodies to safe-guard food quality. This scenario poses a global health issue that warrants rapid control measures to ensure food safety from production to consumption by consumers. For that reason, this review aims to provide an overview of the epidemiology of V. parahaemolyticus as well as discuss the challenges faced to encounter this bacterium.