Research reveals new strategy to reduce campylobacter in chickens

Posted by Campylobacter Lawyer on November 28, 2005

November 28, 2005
Meatingplace.com
Ann Bagel

Bacteriocins -- proteins produced by bacteria -- can reduce campylobacter in chicken intestines to nearly undetectable levels, according to a study published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service.

The research was led by microbiologist Norman Stern of the USDA Agricultural Research Center in Athens, Ga., and Edward Svetoch of the Russian Federation State Research Center for Applied Microbiology in Obolensk.

Tens of thousands of bacterial isolates from poultry production environments were evaluated in the study. Several were found to have anti-campylobacter activity -- namely Bacillus circulans and Paenibacillus ploymyxa.

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Tiny dairies run afoul of state regulators

Posted by Campylobacter Lawyer on November 28, 2005

Raw milk providers who sell shares in cow don't see themselves in the retail business

By RACHEL LA CORTE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

VASHON ISLAND -- Kelsey Kozack's kitchen is a dairy wonderland. Fresh cheeses, yogurt and quarts of fresh raw milk abound, all compliments of Iris, a gentle, tan cow that grazes on the family's seven-acre property.

Just 16, Kelsey has established and runs Fort Bantam Creamery from her family home on Vashon.

At first, Kelsey's parents and sister were the main consumers of her culinary creations from Iris' raw, unpasteurized milk. Then, neighbors got samples, and from there a small but passionate business began. Raw milk aficionados bought a "share" of Iris for a fee, and Kelsey handled the care, feeding and milking for them.

"After you've been drinking raw milk for a while, you can't drink store-bought again," she said. "It has a lot more flavor and is healthier."

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Tips for turkey with trimmings, minus bacteria

Posted by Campylobacter Lawyer on November 18, 2005

Associated Press
November 18, 2005

WASHINGTON -- When Thanksgiving arrives next week, people should be groaning from full stomachs, not food poisoning.

More than 200,000 Americans get sick each day from what they eat, and turkey dinner with all the trimmings complicates it all. The government is offering some tips to keep holiday cooking from becoming an intestinal curse.

At the top of the list is washing your hands often, followed by keeping raw food separate from cooked food, using a food thermometer and storing leftovers in small portions in the fridge.

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Bacteriocins Halt Campylobacter and Salmonella

Posted by Campylobacter Lawyer on November 16, 2005

Bruce Seal, research leader for the ARS Poultry Microbiological Safety Research Unit in Athens, is directing his group in the area of reducing foodborne bacterial pathogens like Campylobacter and Salmonella. These organisms can potentially sicken people who eat undercooked or cross-contaminated food. The scientists are continuing work spearheaded by ARS microbiologist Norman Stern, who was awarded two patent applications relating to bacteriocins, low-molecular-weight polypeptides that kill competing organisms. Stern was the first ARS researcher to travel to Russia for scientific collaboration under the OIRP-led program.

Bacteriocins were purified and tested on broiler chickens challenged and colonized with either Salmonella or Campylobacter, but Stern focused his endeavors on Campylobacter. The work was completed in collaboration with Edward Svetoch, a Russian Federation scientist at the State Research Center for Applied Microbiology in Obolensk.

Svetoch and Stern evaluated tens of thousands of bacterial isolates from poultry-production environments. They have found anti-Campylobacter activity in several organisms and have published their findings on Bacilluscirculans and Paenibacilluspolymyxa.

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Food Safety for Persons with AIDS

Posted by Campylobacter Lawyer on November 15, 2005

General Health
By USDA
Nov 15, 2005, 04:09

Persons with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are susceptible to many types of infection including illness from foodborne pathogens. They are at higher risk than are otherwise healthy individuals for severe illness or death. Affected persons must be especially vigilant when handling and cooking foods. The recommendations provided here are designed to help prevent bacterial foodborne illness.

Why Do Bacteria Endanger People with AIDS?

When the AIDS virus damages or destroys the body's immune system, the person becomes more vulnerable to infection by foodborne bacteria and other pathogens. For example, the common pneumonia, which is caused by a bacterial infection of the lungs, can occur in any individual but occurs much more frequently in persons with AIDS. In addition, when pneumonia strikes a person with AIDS, it causes a more severe illness and is thus more dangerous.

What Types of Foodborne Bacteria are of Particular Concern to Persons with AIDS?

Certain types of foodborne illness are caused by bacteria which can grow on food. The bacteria can infect humans when the food is improperly handled or inadequately cooked. As with many other types of infections, persons with AIDS are at higher risk for developing severe illness or dying from these illnesses. Three types of bacteria are of particular concern for persons with AIDS: Salmonella, Campylobacter jejuni, and Listeria monocytogenes.

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Reduction in flock prevalence of Campylobacter spp. In broilers in Norway after implementation of an action plan

Posted by Campylobacter Lawyer on November 11, 2005

October 2005
Journal of Food Protection: Vol. 68, No. 10, pp. 2220--2223.

An action plan against thermophilic Campylobacter spp. in Norwegian broilers was implemented in May 2001. The action plan consists of three parts: a surveillance program including all Norwegian broiler flocks slaughtered before 50 days of age, a follow-up advisory service on farms delivering flocks positive for Campylobacter spp., and surveys of broiler meat products at the retail level. This article presents results covering the inclusive 3-year period between 2002 and 2004. During this period, a total of 10,803 flocks from 562 broiler farms were tested; altogether, 521 (4.8%) of the flocks were identified as positive for Campylobacter spp., primarily Campylobacter jejuni. The positive flocks originated from 257 (45.7%) of the farms. During the period 2002 to 2004, there was a large and steady reduction in flock prevalence, from 6.3% in 2002 to 3.3% in 2004. Also, the proportion of farms producing flocks positive for Campylobacter spp. each year reduced substantially, from 28.4% in 2002 to 17.8% in 2004. The proportion of flocks positive for Campylobacter spp. varied considerably with season and region. The action plan is a successful collaboration between academia, regulatory agencies, and the poultry industry that has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of broiler carcasses positive for Campylobacter spp. on the market. The temporal associations between implementation of the control program and the drop in the number of infected chickens and contaminated carcasses indicate that this collaborative action plan has been instrumental in achieving the goals of enhancing food safety.

Merete Hofshagen,a and Hilde Kruse,a

aNorwegian Zoonosis Centre, National Veterinary Institute, P.O. Box 8156 Dep., 0033 Oslo, Norway

Campylobacter jejuni reveals genetic markers predictive of infection source

Posted by Campylobacter Lawyer on November 01, 2005

November 1, 2005

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Volume 102, Number 44, 16043-16048

Olivia L. Champion *, Michael W. Gaunt *, Ozan Gundogdu *, Abdi Elmi *, Adam A. Witney {dagger}, Jason Hinds {dagger}, Nick Dorr

Published: 01.nov.05

*Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom; and {dagger}Bacterial Microarray Group, Medical Microbiology, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, St. George's, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, United Kingdom

Edited by Stanley Falkow, Stanford University, Stanford, CA and approved September 12, 2005 (received for review May 12, 2005)

Campylobacter jejuni is the predominant cause of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide, but traditional typing methods are unable to discriminate strains from different sources that cause disease in humans. We report the use of genomotyping (whole-genome comparisons of microbes using DNA microarrays) combined with Bayesian-based algorithms to model the phylogeny of this major food-borne pathogen. In this study 111 C. jejuni strains were examined by genomotyping isolates from humans with a spectrum of C. jejuni-associated disease (70 strains), chickens (17 strains), bovines (13 strains), ovines (5 strains), and the environment (6 strains). From these data, the Bayesian phylogeny of the isolates revealed two distinct clades unequivocally supported by Bayesian probabilities (P = 1); a livestock clade comprising 31/35 (88.6%) of the livestock isolates and a "nonlivestock" clade comprising further clades of environmental isolates. Several genes were identified as characteristic of strains in the livestock clade. The most prominent was a cluster of six genes (cj1321 to cj1326) within the flagellin glycosylation locus, which were confirmed by PCR analysis as genetic markers in six additional chicken-associated strains. Surprisingly these studies show that the majority (39/70, 55.7%) of C. jejuni human isolates were found in the nonlivestock clade, suggesting that most C. jejuni infections may be from nonlivestock (and possibly nonagricultural) sources. This study has provided insight into a previously unidentified reservoir of C. jejuni infection that may have implications in disease-control strategies. The comparative phylogenomics approach described provides a robust methodological prototype that should be applicable to other microbes.