Campylobacter Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Campylobacter Blog

Campylobacter is the second most common cause of foodborne illness in the United States after Salmonella. Over 3,000 cases were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2003, or 12.6 cases for each 100,000 persons in the population. Many more cases go undiagnosed and unreported, with estimates as high as 2 to 4 million cases per year. It is estimated that each case costs $920 on average due to medical and productivity (lost wages) expenses with an annual total cost of $1.2 billion.

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Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, as the intestinal organisms are known, are merging into a single species, the April 11^th issue of the journal Science reports.  

FOX News says the researchers who authored the report think the marriage of the creatures represents a profound example of how people can affect evolution

"What we're seeing here is hybridization, and it's only been recently acknowledged as an important part of evolution," said Samuel Sheppard, an evolutionary microbiologist at Oxford University in England. "It's really exciting stuff."

FOX News describes the evolutionary history this way:

C. jejuni and C. coli are thought to have shared a common ancestor, or parent, in the ancient past.

When the microbial descendent split up and evolutionary pressures stepped in, two new species began to take shape and fill different niches within the guts of wild chickens, pigs and other animals.

Although the definition of a species is one of the most hotly debated topics among biologists, Sheppard said the two microbes are strikingly different, despite sharing about 85 percent of their genetic code.

See the entire FOX News story here.

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The First Post, an online daily magazine, tomorrow (4/10/08) takes on some myths about organic farming.   It reports that one of those myths is that organic food is healthier. 

Not only is that not true, organic can be dangerous.   The First Post warns:

Organic manure can also carry the dangerous bacteria Campylobacter which causes stomach infections, vomiting and diarrhoea. The Danish National Veterinary Laboratory found Campylobacter in 100 per cent of organic chicken flocks but only 36.7 per cent of conventional chicken flocks.

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We have to admit, we really don't like doing the grocery shopping.  If we do not read the labels, we're certain to buy something we don't want or need.  And, if you do read the labels, it can take forever.

Reading labels also leaves us feeling stupid.  What do some of these words mean?  That's why we were drawn to reading a story in the San Jose Mercury News about what "air-chilled" is suppose to mean.   Reporter Carolyn Jung writes:

The air-chilling process, common in Western Europe for more than 45 years, is still fairly new in the United States. It refers to a specific method used to cool chickens after slaughtering. Most chickens in this country are processed by being immersed in ice water. By contrast, air-chilling cools chickens by blasting them with cold air.

Air versus water? Is there really such a huge difference? Many retailers think so. Since January, Whole Foods has been steadily converting all of its full-service meat counters to sell only air-chilled chicken. Niman Ranch, known for its sustainable and humanely raised meats, is expected to start selling an air-chilled French heritage chicken called Poulet Rouge Fermiere in April. It will be the company’s first chicken product.

Whether air-chilled chicken is safer is not really clear. A USDA-sponsored study by the University of Nebraska in 2000 found that 350 air-chilled chickens had about 20 percent less bacteria (such as salmonella and campylobacter) than the same number of water-cooled poultry. That study, though, examined only one air-chilling plant and one water-immersion plant.

Less campylobacter and salmonella, that would be good news.  The cartoon with this was kind of what came to our mind when we first heard the term "air chilled chicken."   For the rest of the story, go here.

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Now this is interesting, and somewhat ironic. 

Last June, over a quarter of 800 bicyclists in a race in British Columbia became ill from  what public health officials believe is one of the biggest reported outbreaks in this country of Campylobacter jejuni - a diarrhea-causing bacteria that is generally contracted through consumption of contaminated food or water.

But it wasn't the food or water the cyclists consumed that made them sick.  No, it was the mud.  June can be a rainy month in BC and the mud was so thick in places that bikers had to dismount and push their way through it.

So when so many became sick, the mud was suspected from the beginning by both health officials and those involved in the race.

"All you could see were the whites of their eyes from the pictures we saw," Dr. Eleni Galanis said of the riders. "There was a lot of mud flying."

Findings of the investigation into the outbreak were presented Monday  (3/17/08) at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.  It was the feces in the mud that gave the riders campylobacter.

The Canadian Press Report on the outbreak can be found here.

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There's a trial going on down in federal court in Tulsa that seems to have everything going for it.  Colorful expert testimony, a determined state attorney general, and some of the nation's top food companies who appear determined to come across as just good old boys.

Robert J. Smith, who writes for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, has been doing an excellent job of covering the proceedings that pit Arkansas' economic interests against Oklahoma's campaign to clean up the Illinois River.  At issue is how high Salmonella and campylobacter bacteria levels  will be allowed in the Illinois River.

And the good old boys?  Oh, they are the defendants and our friends at Tyson Foods of Springdale; Simmons Foods of Siloam Springs; Cargill of Minneapolis; Cobb-Vantress of Siloam Springs; George’s of Springdale; Peterson Farms of Decatur; Willow Brook Foods of Springfield, Mo.; and Cal-Maine Foods of Jackson, Miss.

They've all been sued by Oklahoma's Attorney General Drew Edmondson.  Smith explains:

Oklahoma contends people are at risk in the watershed, which includes portions of eastern Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas, because they spend time in the river and drink from wells. Sections of the 99-mile-long river in Oklahoma are popular for swimming, canoeing and fishing.

Oklahoma blames the poultry companies for bacteria found in water, soil and litter samples, saying the litter threatens human health because it leaches from fields where it’s spread.

Experts have clashed over how high or low the risk to the river from the Arkansas poultry industry.

Smith's weekend wrap up can be found here.

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Its not often an outbreak results in some instant justice.   But when 11 students at the University of Nevada Reno were diagnosed with campylobacter, a food-borne illness, the investigation quickly turned to the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

Here's the story from the Reno Review Journal:

A fraternity at the University of Nevada, Reno has been slapped with a two-year suspension for hazing.The university took the action after the local Alpha Tau Omega chapter was accused of hazing pledges by branding their buttocks with dry ice and making them eat raw poultry.

The hazing came to light in December after as many as 11 pledges sought treatment at the student health center after eating uncooked chicken or turkey, said Sally Morgan, the university's director of student conduct.

The pledges were diagnosed with campylobacter, a food-borne illness required to be reported to the county health department, Morgan told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The students were questioned during a campus investigation in January when they returned from their winter break. Morgan said fraternity members used dry ice to etch the Greek letter omega, resembling an upside down U, on pledges' buttocks.

Oh and the fraternity is appealing the suspension.

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Arkansas and Oklahoma are not getting along these days and a debate about Campylobacter took center stage recently in the dispute.

It seems  that Oklahoma wants Arkansas to help cleanup the Illinois River by stopping the spreading of "poultry litter."   It basically sounds like Arkansas lets Tyson Foods and others spread chicken poop throughout the land.    And--surprise, surprise--its hell on the water quality.  As for  the Campylobacter debate,  reporter Robert J. Smith at the Arkansas Democrat Gazette provides the play-by-play, which occurred in court. Here goes:

Christopher Teaf, associate director of biomedical research at Florida State University in Tallahassee... in particular, drew pointed questions from (Tyson attorney Robert) George, a Fayetteville attorney. Teaf said Adair County in Oklahoma had 10 illnesses related to campylobacter in 2005, but George suggested that the testimony didn’t paint a fair picture for U. S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell.

Campylobacter is a common bacteria that can cause infection and diarrhea.

George accused Teaf of cherry-picking evidence to support the state’s theories about poultry litter contamination and bacteria — but ignoring evidence that refutes those theories.

Teaf didn’t mention that three other Oklahoma counties in the watershed — Sequoyah, Cherokee and Delaware — had incidents of campylobacter lower than the state average.

Louis Bullock, a private attorney working for the state, asked Teaf why he didn’t mention the other counties.

“Why is Adair County important ?” Bullock asked.

“It’s immediately adjacent to Arkansas,” Teaf said.

“And what do you find a concentration of in Arkansas ?” Bullock asked.

“Chicken,” Teaf said.

Lot's more on OK's fight for clean water here.

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We like to track as much food-borne illness data as we can.   We think its important for many reasons.  

The Irish Medical News recently reported that Campylobacter was Ireland's No. 1 food-borne illness for 2006, the latest year for which complete data is available.  The Medical News reports:

Campylobacter infection is the most important cause of sporadic cases of foodborne illness in Ireland with almost 2,000 cases reported in 2006, according to the annual report of the Food Safety Authority.

Go here to read the entire Irish Medical News story.

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