ATLANTA – The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control has released one big book on a bad foodborne bug that's been a big problem for public health.

The Atlas of Salmonella in the United States, 1968-2011 summarizes 42 years of confirmed surveillance data on 32 Salmonella isolates from humans, animals and other sources. The document, which is available on the CDC website, is organized by demographic, geographic and other categories. CDC said the Atlas will allow users to see national trends in reported cases of Salmonella over time, problems in specific geographic areas and the connection between human and animal health, among information.

The Salmonella group of bacteria has more than 2,500 different serotypes, but fewer than 100 make people sick.

“Salmonella causes a huge amount of illness and suffering each year in the United States. We hope these data allow researchers and others to assess what has happened and think more about how we can reduce Salmonella infections in the future,” said Robert Tauxe, MD, deputy director of CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases. “The more we understand Salmonella, the more we can make progress in fighting this threat all along the farm to table chain.”

Salmonella causes an estimated 1.2 million illnesses annually in the US, resulting in more than 23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths, according to the CDC. Salmonella is the top foodborne cause of hospitalizations in the US. But the CDC believes its data may only be the tip of the iceberg: Many cases of salmonellosis are not diagnosed and reported to the health department.