Campylobacter Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Campylobacter Blog

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ALBANY, N.Y. (Jan. 29, 2010 ) -- The New York State Department of Health and the State Department of Agriculture and Markets today warned consumers in Saratoga County and surrounding areas NOT to consume "unpasteurized" raw milk produced at Willow Marsh Farm located at 343 Hop City Road in Ballston Spa due to possible Campylobacter contamination.

The state Health Department received 5 reports of Campylobacter enteritis, from people who have also consumed raw unpasteurized milk purchased from Willow Marsh Farm.

Campylobacter is a bacterial infection that can cause diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, nausea, headache, and muscle pain. The illness usually occurs two to five days after ingestion and generally lasts for seven to ten days.

Anyone who purchased milk from Willow Marsh Farm and still has the product should discard it immediately. Individuals experiencing gastrointestinal illness symptoms after consuming milk purchased from Willow Marsh Farm should contact their health care provider.

The farm has voluntarily suspended milk sales since it was first notified of the reported illnesses on January 22.

Preliminary tests concluded today at the New York State Food Laboratory found that raw unpasteurized milk produced at Willow Marsh Farm and collected on January 25 may be contaminated with Campylobacter. Final test results will be available in the coming week. If the raw milk sample is confirmed positive for Campylobacter, the producer will be prohibited from selling raw milk until subsequent sampling indicates that the product is free of pathogens.

Willow Marsh Farm holds a Department of Agriculture permit to legally sell raw milk at the farm. Routine samples are taken monthly and tested by the state Agriculture and Markets Department to determine whether the raw milk is free of pathogens.

Raw milk does not provide the protection of pasteurization, which eliminates all pathogenic bacteria, including Campylobacter. Producers who sell raw milk to consumers must have a permit from the Department of Agriculture and must sell directly to consumers on the farm where the milk is produced. These producers must also post a notice at the point of sale indicating that raw milk does not provide the protection of pasteurization. Farms with permits to sell raw milk are inspected monthly by the Department.

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Consumer Reports has been measuring contamination in store-bought chickens since 1998. For the latest analysis, the had an outside lab test 382 chickens bought last spring from more than 100 supermarkets, gourmet- and natural-food stores, and mass merchandisers in 22 states. They tested three top brands—Foster Farms, Perdue, and Tyson—as well as 30 nonorganic store brands, nine organic store brands, and nine organic name brands. Five of the organic brands were labeled "air-chilled" (a slaughterhouse process in which carcasses are refrigerated and may be misted, rather than dunked in cold chlorinated water).

Among the findings:

1.  Campylobacter was in 62 percent of the chickens, salmonella was in 14 percent, and both bacteria were in 9 percent. Only 34 percent of the birds were clear of both pathogens. That's double the percentage of clean birds we found in our 2007 report but far less than the 51 percent in our 2003 report.

2.  Among the cleanest overall were air-chilled broilers. About 40 percent harbored one or both pathogens. Eight Bell & Evans organic broilers, which are air chilled, were free of both, but our sample was too small to determine that all Bell & Evans broilers would be.

3.  Store-brand organic chickens had no salmonella at all, showing that it's possible for chicken to arrive in stores without that bacterium riding along. But as our tests showed, banishing one bug doesn't mean banishing both: 57 percent of those birds harbored campylobacter.

4.  The cleanest name-brand chickens were Perdue's: 56 percent were free of both pathogens. This is the first time since we began testing chicken that one major brand has fared significantly better than others across the board.

5.  Most contaminated were Tyson and Foster Farms chickens. More than 80 percent tested positive for one or both pathogens.

6.  Among all brands and types of broilers tested, 68 percent of the salmonella and 60 percent of the campylobacter organisms we analyzed showed resistance to one or more antibiotics.

This video is also worth a watch:

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Nick Grube continues part 2 of a 3 part series. Part 1 ran a few days ago.  The article is a must read for raw milk producers, raw milk drinkers, potential raw milk drinkers, politicians and health department regulators.  A picture too is worth a thousand words:

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New Zealand’s efforts to drastically reduce the effects of the dangerous bacteria found in chicken have seen it lead global efforts to improve the safety of poultry for human consumption.

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) is taking the lead for the International Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) in developing standards to combat campylobacter in broiler chickens.

The highly-regarded Codex guidelines are also often used by international bodies, like the World Trade Organization, to settle trade disputes over food safety issues.

New Zealand had the world’s highest rate of campylobacter infection, which can be caused by eating raw or undercooked poultry.

NZFSA’s science director, Steve Hathaway says New Zealand’s cutting-edge research and innovative controls have made huge inroads into decreasing the country’s campylobacter infection rate.

“New Zealand has got a reputation for getting stuck in and really reducing what is a serious health problem world-wide. We have worked closely with the poultry industry over the past three years to research and develop campylobacter controls and other countries see there is a lot to learn from us as their focus on food-borne campylobacter infection increases.”

In 2006, the effects of major food-borne illnesses cost New Zealand $86 million in lost productivity. It was estimated 90 per cent of that cost was due to campylobacter infection. Just two-and-a-half years later, the NZFSA’s campylobacter risk management strategy has made a 50 per cent reduction in cases of campylobacter infection caused by food. The annual saving to society is estimated to be around $36 million.

While New Zealand heads up the Codex work on campylobacter, Sweden will lead parallel guidelines for salmonella. When the combined international standard is completed, countries belonging to Codex will be able to use the guidelines and examples to control the effects of both bacteria in their own poultry industries.

The guidelines are expected to be finalised next year after the CCFH meets in November.

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The Walworth County District Attorney's Office is evaluating whether to file charges against the owners of an Elkhorn farm shut down after more than two dozen people fell ill from consuming raw milk.  Assistant District Attorney Zeke Wiedenfeld on Monday met with three representatives from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

"It's a crime to sell raw milk," Wiedenfeld said after the meeting. "Whether or not it gets charged is a determination that we have to make. I'll be speaking to them (officials) about making a charging decision and what is the proper outcome for a case like this."

Wiedenfeld said it will be a matter of weeks before he makes a charging decision.

According to agriculture officials, 35 people from Walworth, Waukesha and Racine counties have been diagnosed with campylobacter jejuni, a bacterial infection that causes diarrhea, cramping and vomiting.

All the victims said they had consumed raw milk, and 30 of them said they got it from Zinniker Farm, Elkhorn. Twenty-one victims were under the age of 18. One was hospitalized. Twenty-seven of the victims were in Walworth and Waukesha counties.

Tests run by state officials showed the campylobacter jejuni from 25 of the patients had a DNA fingerprint later matched with bacteria found in feces from cows at the Zinniker farm.

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This just in from the State of Wisconsin:

Thirteen confirmed cases of illness in southeastern Wisconsin have been linked to consumption of unpasteurized milk, public health officials said today, and they cautioned residents to discard any unpasteurized milk they have in their homes.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said individuals have tested positive for campylobacter jejuni, a bacterial infection that causes gastro-intestinal symptoms and fever and that occasionally leads to severe complications. There are other people in the same households who are ill, but those test results are not yet available, officials said.

The onset of illness was Aug. 14-20. All victims had consumed raw milk or been in households where someone else consumed raw milk and became ill. Campylobacter can be passed between people as well as being contracted directly from contaminated food.

Campylobacter jejuni bacteria cause nausea, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, fever and vomiting. Rarely, it can lead to temporary arthritis or paralysis, generally after the initial symptoms have disappeared.

Anyone who has these symptoms and has recently consumed unpasteurized milk or dairy products should contact their doctor. To prevent spreading Campylobacter bacteria, follow proper hand-washing procedures and wash down bathroom and kitchen surfaces with an antibacterial agent.

Selling or distributing raw milk and raw milk products is illegal in Wisconsin.

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 Researchers at Bristol University recently presented new findings regarding Campylobacter contamination in poultry populations.  Professor Tom Humphrey from the University’s Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, led a new study showing that Campylobacter levels increase in the gut of chickens and other farm animals when they are transported. According to a Bristol University press release:

Research in many countries has shown that after transport, levels of bacteria like Campylobacter are higher in the gut of food animals than on the farm. Work at Bristol has demonstrated that this may be associated with the release of the stress hormone noradrenalin. This hormone makes Campylobacter grow more quickly, become highly motile and invasive, leading to an increase in its ability to cause disease - its virulence.

A further finding in the studies at Bristol is that Campylobacter can interact with other organisms in the gut of food animals. When this happens it can become even more infective. The results of this study provide vital information to enable the control of infection in the production environment, making chicken safer and decreasing cases of food poisoning.

Infection caused by Campylobacter bacteria is called campylobacteriosis and is usually caused by consuming unpasteurized milk, raw or undercooked meat or poultry, or other contaminated foods and water, and contact with feces from infected animals.

Symptoms of Campylobacter infection, which usually occur within 2 to 10 days after the bacteria are ingested, include fever, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea (often bloody). In some cases, physicians prescribe antibiotics when diarrhea is severe. The illness can last about a week.

Complications can include meningitis, urinary tract infections, and possibly reactive arthritis (rare and almost always short-term), and rarely, Guillain-Barre syndrome, an unusual type of paralysis. While most people who contract campylobacteriosis recover completely within 2 to 5 days, some Campylobacter infections can be fatal, resulting in an estimated 124 deaths each year.

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Americans food habits are changing. We drink less milk and eat more cheese. We drink a lot less milk than most places in Europe and more than most do in Asia.

Still, when our total annual per capita consumption amounts to something north of 22 gallons of milk, more than 35 pounds of cheese, and 2.1 pounds of butter; there is just one thing to say.  We should all toast at least one glass a year to Louis Pasteur, the French chemist and microbiologist, who invented Pasteurization to make both milk--and yes wine--safe for us to drink.

For while only a tiny fraction of the milk we consume is "raw" or unpasteurized; it is raw milk that continues to deliver a menu of pathogens including Campylobacter that are good only for making people sick, and possibility dead.

More evidence of raw milk's danger comes in the current issue of the Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) that looks all the 2006 data the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) has collected on food-borne disease outbreaks (FBDOs) from all states and territories through the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (FBDSS).

This report, according to CDC, summarizes epidemiologic data on FBDOs reported during 2006 (the most recent year for which data have been analyzed). A total of 1,270 FBDOs were reported, resulting in 27,634 cases and 11 deaths.

Dairy commodities, which we assume are milk, cheese and butter, accounted for only three percent of the single source outbreaks in 2006. That translates into 16 outbreaks responsible for 193 food-borne illness cases.

Of those dairy outbreak cases, 71 percent were attributed to unpasteurized raw milk. Raw milk was responsible for ten outbreaks that made 137 sick. “A wide range of bacterial pathogens was associated with the raw milk outbreaks, including Campylobacter (six outbreaks), STEC (E. coli) 0157:H7 (two outbreaks), Salmonella (one outbreak), and Listeria (one outbreak), resulting in 11 hospitalizations and one death," CDC reports.

Raw milk drinkers, say it ain't so!

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Raw milk has struck again, this time in western Colorado where at several people are suffering campylobacter poisoning. The Kinikin Corner Dairy in Montrose, CO has been ordered to cease and desist from distributing raw milk to the public, including its so-called "shareholders."

Raw milk traced to Kinikin, where the poison-producing cows come with cute little names, has made at least eight people sick, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The state says 10 of the 11 confirmed cases of campylobacter since March 30th are linked to drinking raw milk, and eight of those have admitted their raw milk pusher is the Kinikin Dairy.

The diary was order to stop sales late yesterday afternoon.

Campylobacter is often spread through cow feces and if contaminated fecal matter gets into water or milk, humans can get sick.

The Montrose dairy farm gives all the details of how it gets around those little legal prohibitions against selling raw milk to the public on its website here.

 

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Above the bench in the Tenth Circuit Courtroom in Denver where a battle was fought this week between the State of Oklahoma and the poultry industry are the words: “Reason is the soul of all law.”

The “poultry litter” war being waged by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson and the mostly Arkansas-based chicken companies originally caught our attention because of its possible impact on campylobacter incidents in the Illinois River watershed.

It was also a colorful dispute at the trial court level. We got some laughs out of the quotes we were reading in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, where reporter Robert J. Smith has a knack for covering mouthy attorneys.

AG Edmondson wanted Judge Greg Fizzell, the trial judge, to grant Oklahoma’s motion for an emergency injunction to stop further application of poultry litter in the Illinois River watershed. Last September, however, Fizzell denied the injunction. He found that cattle and human waste (from failing septic systems) were contaminating the Illinois, but left the poultry litter pollution issue for trial.

When Fizzell ruled, the town of Locust Grove, OK was reeling from an outbreak of E coli 0111, a rare strain, that eventually killed a Pryor, OK man and sickened 313 others. About third of those ended up in area hospitals. All who became ill were linked to the popular Country Cottage restaurant.

After Oklahoma’s Department of Health failed to link the 0111 to any food or water source, the state’s investigation appeared to be at a dead-end. Then last month, AG Edmondson raised the possibility that the E. coli 0111 came from private well water contaminated by poultry litter.

Locust Grove is some distance from the Illinois River watershed, but the AG’s fingering poultry litter brought the chicken companies down on him in the 0111 outbreak investigation.

All of which made for high drama in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals this week where AG Edmondson went seeking to over-turn Fizzell’s denial of the emergency injunction.

Edmondson, a Democrat who may run for Governor of Oklahoma, in 2010, was there with attorney Fredrick Baker of the South Carolina-based law firm of Motley Rice.

Edmondson brought Motley Rice into the case because Oklahoma needed the resources they brought to the table, the AG told us. He says they’ve brought $24 million to the investigation to date. That’s the only way Edmondson could effectively combat a courtroom full of chicken company attorneys and their PR men.

Edmondson knows that its an uphill battle to get an appellate court to overturn a trial court judge on a ruling out of a emergency or preliminary injunction hearing.

Oklahoma’s problem is some of the original research commissioned for the trial court has yet to get through the “peer-review” process to be published in an acceptable scientific journal. At the same time, the chicken attorneys can say no one has ever proven bacteria from poultry litter has ever made anyone sick.

Meanwhile, the AG forced the state Health Department to begin testing wells in the Locust Grove area, finding almost one in five is producing a "dangerous to humans" bacterial stew, but no finding yet of that always rare 0111.

And near the town of Hogeye, south of Fayetteville, the Illinois River begins in Arkansas. It becomes a scenic river in Oklahoma before being dammed to form Tenkiller Lake near Tahlequah. It empties into the Arkansas River.

Reason might mean doing something to clean it up. What the law requires is up to federal Judges Paul Kelly, David Ebel, and Michael Murphy.

 

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In another example of how fast Raw Milk can make people sick, and quickly find its way back in the dairy case, we have this story about Pleasant Valley Dairy in Ferndale, WA.

Evergreen State health officials linked Raw Milk from Pleasant Valley to five confirmed cases of illness caused by the campylobacter bacteria. The same strain that made the people sick was found in the unpasteurized milk from Pleasant Valley Dairy.

All five cases were from the adjoining Whatcom and Skagit counties of Washington State. The campylobacter jejuni did not stop the diary for long, however. It merely pulled the bad batch from dairy cases in northwestern Washington and resumed regular distribution.

Pleasant Valley claims it changed its testing procedure to reduce the risk of releasing contaminated milk.

Campylobacter is a common bacterial cause of diarrhea in the United States. 

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It is always interesting to tune into the state-by-state Raw Milk saga.   Take Pennsylvania for example.

Pennsylvania farms can sell Raw Milk, which means it is not pasteurized, under a system of permits and testing.   During the past week, we watched as on Feb. 20, the state Health Department put a public notice out that Raw Milk from Dean Farms in Lawrence County, PA should NOT be consumed because of possible contamination from campylobacter.  

Here some of what the state said:

State Health Secretary Everette James today advised consumers who purchased raw milk from Dean Farms in New Castle, Lawrence County, doing business as Pasture Maid Creamery, LLC, to immediately discard the raw milk due to potential bacterial contamination. Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized.

Dean Farms sells directly to consumers who provide their own bottles. The business is not related to Dean's Dairy in Sharpsville, Mercer County, which produces pasteurized milk for supermarkets.

Recently, individuals who consumed raw milk purchased from Dean Farms were found to have gastrointestinal illness due to Campylobacter, a bacterial infection. Since January 23, a total of six confirmed cases of Campylobacter infection have been reported among raw milk drinkers in four unrelated households in western Pennsylvania. The investigation is ongoing.

In the Health Secretary's statement, which can be found here, it says the state recommended Dean Farms stop selling Raw Milk and the dairy agreed.  A week later, however, it is the Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary  with this release on PR Wire that announces that Dean Farms back selling Raw Milk to the public.  It says:

Dean Farms in New Castle, Lawrence County, has tested negative for Campylobacter contamination and resumed sales of raw milk on Feb. 26, Agriculture Secretary  Dennis Wolff  said today. 

While Dean Farms "tested negative," however, the number of confirmed cases of Campylobacter increased to a total of 9 in four unrelated households.  We see no new word about that on the Health Department's website.   Just the PR Wire from Secretary Wolff saying everything is okay, move along.

Our question for those of you in PA--Do you feel like this system is working for you?

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Being a "turkey plucker" would probably rank in anyone's  top ten list of the worst jobs on the planet.  It would only be worse if you were made sick doing that job.   It would be worse still if five years after the job made you a victim of Campylobacter, you were still fighting in the courts for just compensation from your employer.

That's the story the UK's Lancashire Evening Post is reporting today involving Donna Marie Hull, from Ingol, who was hospitalized and left house bound for six months after coming down with Campylobacter enteritis just before Christmas 2003. She was awarded £16,237.49 damages by Preston County Court in April this year.

However, owners of the Ratten Lane turkey farms challenged the award in the appeals court.  According to the Evening Post:

Miss Hull, of Brighton Crescent, was working as a seasonal turkey plucker at Sherdley Farm in Hutton when she contracted the disease, which causes fever, painful swelling of the abdomen and severe diarrhoea. It can be picked up from bacteria found in uncooked poultry.

Stephen Douglas, for Miss Hull, told the court that the judge at Preston found her employers had been at fault by not insisting that she wore gloves.

For more, go here.
 

 

 

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Palmer, Alaska is located in the striking Matanuska Valley of Southcentral Alaska, between the Chugach and Talkeetna mountain ranges.  Peas grow there in summer, the season when its possible to go out and watch the Sandhill Cranes that frequent the area.

This past summer, however, 99 people came down with Campylobacter. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta determined that the outbreak of Campylobacter diarrhea was traced to eating uncooked peas that came from a field frequented by sandhill cranes.

Droppings from the cranes most likely contaminated the peas, said Dr. Tracie Gardner, an epidemiologist with the Alaska Division of Public Health.

It's probably too cold now for peas or cranes. 

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Just click on the below and download the entire report:

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Only last week's Dow experienced more up and downs than Hendricks Farm & Dairy in Franconia, PA.

On Sept. 12th, the state Department of Agriculture suspended the farm's raw milk permit  and instructed the Hendricks to stop selling raw milk for human consumption unless and until the permit is reinstated.

"HF&D is very concerned by the health issues some families have suffered from recently," the company said in a statement on its Web site last Sunday. "We are willingly complying with the Commonwealth's recommended temporary discontinuation of fluid raw milk sales."

Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized.

However before a full week had passed, the state did re-issue Hendricks' permit.

Lab tests on samples of raw milk from a Montgomery County farm linked to an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness in at least 10 people came back negative for the campylobacter bacteria, the state Department of Agriculture reported on Wednesday.

However, a sample of raw milk purchased at the farm by a Bucks County resident did contain the bacteria.

The farm's Trent Hendricks wasn't accepting responsibility for that one, however.

“It was out of our control,” he said.   Hendricks points to the fact that no pathogens have ever been found in the milk at his farm and the farm has never been found in violation of any regulations. “We have the best track record in the state.”

We still have to wonder about the state of regulation in Pennsylvania.   It appears that when the Commonwealth's Ag Department is making the call, the tie goes to the farm.

For more, go here.

  

 

 

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We cannot resist saying it.  Our friends at Organic Pastures have stepped into again.   This just in from the State of California:

Grade A raw cream produced by Organic Pastures of Fresno County –product with the code date SEP 12—is the subject of a statewide recall and quarantine order announced by California State Veterinarian Dr. Richard Breitmeyer. The quarantine order came following the detection of campylobacter bacteria in the cream. The detection was confirmed this morning.

Campylobacter is one of the most common causes of food-borne illness in the United States. At this point, no illnesses have been reported. People with symptoms who consumed this product should consult their physicians.

Under the recall, Organic Pastures Grade A raw cream labeled with a SEP 12 code date is to be pulled immediately from retail shelves and consumers are strongly urged to dispose of any product remaining in their refrigerators.

As readers of Bill Marler's blog know, this is not the first time.  Check this one out: Organic Pastures - "Where There is Smoke, There is Fire."

We wonder what kind of signs or other information Whole Foods is providing its customers today!

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The 38-year-old mum-of-two wants readers to know what life is really like on the waiting list. Here she explains how her condition affected her this week.

This week, she comes down with Campylobacter. 

SUNDAY

WOKE up twice in the night with cramps and feeling sick. The oxygen had fallen off my nose and was wrapped around my neck, I unravelled the tube and made it to the toilet. Image, if you can, walking everywhere with a garden hose attached to your nose - although obviously smaller. Everywhere you go you have to make sure that you don't get the tube stuck under doors, you try not to get kinks in the tube but everyday there are umpteen kinks in the tubes which the fairies must have knotted together in the night! You are permanently attached to a machine.

Go here for more of Helen's diary entries.

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Cambridge University Press has published online in its Cambridge Journals an interesting article titled: "Wide geographical distribution of internationally rate Campylobacter clones within New Zealand."

From the summary:

During the southern hemisphere winter of 2006 New Zealand experienced a significant increase in the number of reported cases of Campylobacter infection. In total, 112 Campylobacter isolates from eight district health boards (DHBs) located across New Zealand were submitted for PFGE, MLST and Penner serotyping analysis.

Distinct clusters of Campylobacter isolates were identified, several of which were composed of isolates from up to five different DHBs located on both the North and South islands of New Zealand. One sequence type, ST-474, was identified in 32 of the 112 isolates and may represent an endemic sequence type present in New Zealand.

The spatial pattern of genotypes, combined with the generalized increase in notifications throughout the country is consistent with a common source epidemic, most likely from a source contaminated with the dominant sequence types ST-474 and ST-190 and may also represent widely distributed stable clones present in New Zealand.

Click on the underlined headline above to go to the complete article.

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Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning down under and is on the increase, with nearly 18,000 cases confirmed in Australia in 2007 (14,750 in 2002). This year, there have nearly been 8,000 cases.

World Poultry Net reports:

Concern over food poisoning caused by chicken meat has heightened, and has led to a new production and processing standard for the poultry industry.

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand stated that the agency has identified a need to address the rise in cases of campylobacter and salmonella poisoning from chickens throughout Australia. It also said that there is increasing concern that the level of antibiotics used in the poultry industry could be making the bacteria resistant to treatment.

The new standard will put regulations in place to ensure that strict food safety controls cover the entire poultry meat industry, from farm to fork.

World Poultry Net says Campylobacter was a topic that was also recently discussed at the World Poultry Congress in Brisbane. Poultry experts within the industry believe it is impossible to eliminate the bacteria from chicken meat, but that it is vital to find ways to reduce it.  The story can be found here.

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When we think of Arkansas, we do think of chickens.   That's why we were not surprised to see the University of Arkansas doing some major research focusing on chickens, Campylobacter jejuni, a pathogen found in poultry, and antibiotics.

The bottom line? The University of Arkansas found that Campylobacter jejuni in poultry is becoming resistant to ciprofloxacin, a synthetic antibiotic used by humans to fight bacterial infections.

For the study, the University went grocery shopping every week for nearly a year at two Fayetteville grocery stores.  They bought a total of 382 raw chicken carcasses.

From the first store, 85 percent of the chickens purchased had countable levels of Campylobacter (including its non-pathogenic species), with 27 percent of it resistant to ciprofloxacin.

From the second store, 46 percent of the carcasses had detectable Campylobacter and 6 percent of that was resistant to ciprofloxacin.  In a press release, the University said:

Ramakrishna Nannapaneni, who conducted the research while at Arkansas as a food science post-doctoral associate, said that ciprofloxacin has never been used in animals. However, it is closely related to two other antibiotics, enrofloxacin and sarafloxacin, which were previously approved for usage in poultry between 1995 and 2000 before they were banned on Sept. 12, 2005.

“When Campylobacter became resistant to enrofloxacin or sarafloxacin, it also showed cross-resistance to other fluoroquinolones (a group of antibiotics), such as in human medicine against ciprofloxacin,” said Nannapaneni, now an assistant professor of food science at Mississippi State University.

See the rest of the University of Arkansas story here.

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Some official comments in news are worth nothing. Stephen J. Hedges writing in last Friday's Chicago Tribune quotes John Sheehan, director of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's Office of Plant and Dairy Foods on raw milk.

Here's what he said: "Raw milk is inherently dangerous, and it should not be consumed by anyone at any time for any reason. There is absolutely nothing to the claims that it is magical, mystical elixir that cures all."

The Tribune went on to report this: "Health officials argue that raw milk can carry dangerous pathogens, such as E. coli, listeria, salmonella and campylobacter--bugs that are killed by pasteurization." Go to the rest of the story by clicking on this headline: "Raw milk trend concerns many: some love it, but safety isn't certain."

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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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The government of New Zealand latest attempts to combat Campylobacter have come under fire from the country's Green Party.  Scoop, an independent news service in New Zealand, says the Greens think the Poultry code too weak to tackle campy epidemic. It reports that:

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority has missed a vital chance to stem this country's campylobacter-related epidemic, the Green Party says.

The new Code of Practice for processing of poultry, while a small step in the right direction, fails to include some very simple measures to stem the tide of campylobacter contamination of chicken meat being sold to New Zealanders, Safe Food Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.

"Campylobacter is a nasty food-borne illness that is estimated to affect around 100,000 New Zealanders each year, and sees about 650 people hospitalised. Estimates are that around 80 percent of cases stem from contaminated chicken.

The Authority's own studies show that campylobacter cross-contamination is occurring at virtually all stages of poultry processing and sale, yet the simple steps that can be taken to prevent this have barely been addressed in the new Code of Practice.

"A higher emphasis should be placed on more hygienic methods of transportation to avoid cross-contamination between live birds. Campylobacter lives in the gut of the chicken and transporting them in cages stacked on top of each other will inevitably result in the droppings from birds higher up the stack contaminating those below them

The complete report can be found here.

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Campylobacter is a big problem in New Zealand.  Reporting for Meat & Poultry, the business journal for meat and poultry processors,  Bryan Salvage says:

New guidelines for poultry processors have been developed by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (N.Z.F.S.A.) and the New Zealand Poultry Industry Association to reduce food poisoning cases associated with Campylobacter

New Zealand has the highest rate of Campylobacter in the world. The new code of practice will be implemented on March 1.

Meat & Poultry further reports that:

The new code of practice will apply to all poultry processors, with a goal to halve the number of cases of Campylobacter in the next five years, the N.Z.F.S.A. reported. Sharon Waggener, senior program manager of production, says the guidelines are far clearer than the existing ones and allow for suspension or even closure penalties if a processor fails to comply.

When we see a more complete summary of the new code from the government, we will pass it along.

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The new issue of  Agricultural Research Service's (ARS) Food and Nutrition Research Briefs, published on line by the United States Department of Agriculture, reports that a new medium developed by ARS that provides a quicker, simpler way to distinguish between Campylobacter species has been licensed for manufacture by two U.S. companies.

Food and Nutrition Research Briefs reports that:

A quicker, simpler way to distinguish between Campylobacter species has now been licensed for manufacture by two U.S. companies: Becton Dickinson and Co. of Franklin Lakes, N.J., and Neogen Corp. of Lansing, Mich. An Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist began working with Polish scientists in 1987 to develop the new medium, which was patented in 1999. The new culture medium, called Campy-Cefex, is specifically designed to detect and differentiate C. jejuni and C. coli mixtures of food-contaminating microbes. These two bacteria are important causes of foodborne illness. Campy-Cefex selects for Campylobacter among competing flora in a sample, cultivating colonies that resemble tiny water droplets. From these, microbiologists can estimate the level of Campylobacter contamination in the sample.

For more information :Details

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The Washington Department of Health warned that milk produced at the Pleasant Valley Dairy in Ferndale, Washington, may be contaminated with Campylobacter this week.  Campylobacter - a bacterium that causes diarrhea, somach cramps, and other symptoms of food poisoning, is one of the most common causes of foodborne illness. 

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

The bacteria were found in a routine testing sample taken Dec. 11, the department said.

Local health departments are reviewing Campylobacter illness reports that may be related to the milk, the news release said. Symptoms of the illness usually occur two to five days after ingestion and generally last for seven to 10 days.

The milk was sold in half-gallon plastic containers at the Pleasant Valley farm store and at Barganica, Community Food Co-op and Terra Organica in Bellingham; Skagit Valley Co-op in Mount Vernon; Arlington Health, Petosa's, Manna Mills, Tru Health and Bob's Corn Patch in Snohomish County; and Spuds in Seattle, the news release said.

The milk has a sell-by date of December 20.

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49abcnews.com reported last week that at least 87 Kansans had become ill with Campylobacter infections after consuming raw dairy products in November.  The outbreaks were caused by raw cheese and raw milk - both products that have been identified as past food poisoning outbreaks, including E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks. 

In the first outbreak in southwest Kansas, 68 people became ill after eating cheese made from raw (unpasteurized) milk donated by a local dairy for a community celebration. Nineteen people were ill enough to seek medical attention, and two people were hospitalized. Four of these persons tested positive for Campylobacter jejuni; no other food items served at the event were associated with illness.

The second outbreak is linked to a dairy in south central Kansas that sells raw milk directly to consumers. As of November 30, 2007, 19 cases of campylobacteriosis had been reported. Each person reported drinking raw milk purchased from the dairy.

The International Food Safety Network and other food safety advocates have repeatedly warned about the dangers of consuming "raw", or unpasteurized, milk, cheese, and other dairy products.  In May, Braw Surgeoner of iFSN wrote on the organization's blog:

Every week in the U.S. there is a report of unpasteurized milk testing positive for listeria or salmonella or E. coli or campylobacter (see Contamination shows up in dairy, Capital Press, May 18/07); every month there is a report of people, largely children, sickened after consuming unpasteurized milk in the misguided belief that all things natural are good.

She lists previous foodborne illness outbreaks linked to unpasteurized dairy products in the post, then counters raw milk advocates' claims that unpasteurized milk is safe.  Read the entire iFSN post on raw milk here.

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US - A quicker, simpler way to distinguish between Campylobacter species has now been licensed for manufacture by two U.S. companies. The new culture medium called Campy-Cefex is specifically designed to detect and differentiate C. jejuni and C. coli mixtures of food-contaminating microbes. These two bacteria are important causes of foodborne illness.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) microbiologist Norman Stern, with the ARS Poultry Microbiological Safety Research Unit (PMSRU) in Athens, Ga., began developing the new medium in 1987. That’s when he traveled to Poland to work with researchers Boleslaw Wojton and Kris Kwiatek at the Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy, Poland.

keep reading here.

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A Queensland University of Technology (QUT)researcher has developed a new technique that can help scientists and clinicians quickly and cheaply diagnose the bacteria which causes the most common bout of food poisoning in Australia. Erin Price, from QUT's Faculty of Science, has developed a novel set of methods that uses genetic markers to pinpoint the bacteria Campylobacter jejuni.

"Campylobacter jejuni is the commonest cause of bacterial food-borne gastroenteritis in westernised countries," Ms Price said. "It is more common than salmonella, yet most people have never heard of it."

keep reading here

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Annette Saldivar, 38, was living a normal life as a dialysis technician and as a mother of two teenage girls.

Then, in February, she began to experience restless leg syndrome, a tingling sensation that kept her awake at night.

Later, she complained about headaches, vertigo, weakness and vision problems. She was fatigued all the time.

Finally, after seeing several physicians and undergoing all sorts of tests, a doctor diagnosed her illness as Guillain-Barré syndrome, a debilitating disease that strikes one in 100,000 people.

"She was getting so bad, I thought she was going to die," said Joe Saldivar, her father. "My twin girls are my pride and joy. I thank God he didn't take her from me."

Keep reading here

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Washington - Danger could be hiding in your dinner salad.

Food most people consider healthy, such as raw sprouts, salad greens, cooked fruit and rice, can pose serious health risks if they are improperly prepared and stored.

Sprouts are considered risky because they grow in a bacteria-friendly moist environment. Outbreaks have involved raw alfalfa and mixed sprouts that were contaminated with salmonella, which can lead to fever, cramps, diarrhea and even death, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Thorough cooking significantly reduces health risks for sprouts, as well as other foods.

Certain people are at greater risk, including young children, the elderly, the immune-compromised and pregnant women, according to Sam Beattie, a food safety extension specialist at Iowa State University.

The bacteria campylobacter, salmonella and E. coli, as well as Norwalk and Norwalk-like viruses, cause the most commonly recognized food-borne infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC is working on analyses to estimate the number of illnesses each year in the United States from various foods. Initial reports are expected in 2008.

Keep reading here.

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A survey of unpasteurized milk samples drawn from dairy farms across Wisconsin found a significant presence of Coxiella burnetii and Listeria monocytogenes, two different types of bacteria that can cause serious infection and even death in some people.

These findings have particular relevance for consumers seeking raw milk products.

The study, reported at the annual International Conference on Diseases in Nature Communicable to Man held last week in Madison, Wisconsin, was based on a random sampling of milk from 901 Wisconsin dairy farms. The farms were chosen to encompass small and large herds, producers of Grade A and B milk, and all five of the state's geographic regions.

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Many communities nationwide hold yearly agricultural fairs, but few rival the Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair. The fair offers a wide range of entertainment, concessions, exhibits, livestock, amusement rides and much, much more.

Most fair-goers will tell you that the food, especially the funnel cakes and sticky buns, and the chance to reunite with family and friends are among their favorites about the fair. Many also will agree that Grange Fair just wouldn't be complete without the animals. The animals provide enjoyment, entertainment, and an educational experience for children and adults. Those who raise and exhibit their animals are rewarded with the pride of showing an award-winning animal, while those not involved in animal agriculture get an opportunity to learn more about the animals they may have only seen from a distance.

keep reading here

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ATLANTA, GA (July 20, 2007) - Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin reminded Georgians today about the dangers associated with drinking raw (unpasteurized) milk.

“Although there is a movement touting its benefits, people should remember there are numerous dangers associated with drinking raw milk,” said Commissioner Irvin. Among these dangers are illnesses resulting from Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes and Yersinia enterocolitica. These bacteria can cause a variety of health problems, including vomiting and diarrhea, encephalitis, septicemia and spontaneous abortion.

Keep reading here

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New research conducted now suggests that the ban on the use of fluoroquinolone to treat Campylobacter in humans may not be as effective as hoped.

The fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics is commonly used by doctors treat food poisoning caused by Campylobacter. However, poultry farmers began using fluoroquinolones to treat respiratory disease in flocks, resulting in the drugs being less effective in people.

Due to these concerns, in 2005, the FDA banned the use of these drugs in poultry. However, a new study suggests that the ban may not be enough to fix the problem.

A team of Johns Hopkins researchers made weekly trips to Baltimore supermarkets for 20 weeks in 2004 and 15 weeks in 2006. Each week, they bought chicken from five different producers: three producers had never used any antibiotics; two were major conventional producers that declared they had ceased all use of fluoroquinolones in 2002. The scientists tested one piece of chicken from each package for Campylobacter, confirmed the bacterium's identity using DNA analysis, then tested for antibiotic resistance using the minimal inhibitory concentration method.

The bacteria from conventional chicken were more likely to be fluoroquinolone-resistant than those from antibiotic-free products. The researchers compared each poultry producer to every other producer in a pair-wise fashion. In both 2004 and 2006, this statistical analysis showed that the Campylobacter strains from the conventionally produced chicken were more likely to be resistant than the strains from antibiotic-free samples.
In addition, between 2004 and 2006, the proportion of antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the conventionally produced chicken showed no significant change, indicating that the prevalence of fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter was not decreasing in chicken from these producers, even after four years.

Results suggest that once antibiotic-resistant bacteria have developed, they may show up on grocery store shelves long after drug use stops. The authors note that they could not verify claims of voluntary fluoroquinolone prohibition because poultry producers are not required to report their use of drugs in food animals to regulatory agencies.

Other studies have shown that resistant bacteria can linger in poultry farms' water distribution and ventilation systems and in reused litter. The authors state that additional interventions, such as requiring thorough disinfection and regular litter changing in poultry houses, may be necessary to reduce the public health burden of fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter.

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I showed up at the farm in the dark of night. This was not a necessary element to procuring my illicit elixir, but it somehow seemed apropos. A lone light and the moon illuminated the gravel drive between my car and the barn in rural Alamance County. A black cat scurried across my path, and I mused at the irony.

Just as promised, I found the milk in the fridge. "Nelson" was printed neatly on the glass with indelible ink on an otherwise unlabeled jar. No one was around except for a dog, who surveyed my intentions and went back to guarding the cows. I left the money on the counter and departed with my contraband.

This was actually the least secretive element in my quest to find raw milk. Getting here had required everything short of a secret handshake.

Keep reading here

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June 19, 2007 -- A quick trip to the deli salad bar can result in an even quicker bout of food poisoning.

With the summer heat upon us, health experts warn that the popular "pay-by-the-pound" salad bars found in delis citywide are prime breeding grounds for bacteria and other pathogens.

Keep reading here

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University of Nottingham experts have joined forces with Canadian biotech company GangaGen Life Sciences Inc to develop new weapons in the fight against food poisoning.

They are engaging in a major research project to develop methods for the control of Campylobacter — the commonest cause of infectious bacterial intestinal disease in England and Wales, according to the Health Protection Agency. Campylobacters are found in poultry and other animals and cause millions of cases of food poisoning worldwide.

The researchers intend to develop bacteriophage-based treatments for the control of Campylobacter.

Bacteriophages — the term literally means 'bacterium-eater' — are naturally occurring agents that target and destroy bacteria with a high degree of efficiency, and do so selectively and specifically, without affecting beneficial bacteria or gut cells. The term is commonly used in its shortened form, phage.

keep reading here

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Academics from the Universities of the West of England and Bristol have found that faeces from healthy people and those with infectious diarrhoea differ significantly in their chemical composition and could be used to diagnose quickly diseases such as Clostridium difficile (C. Diff.).

It is hoped the discovery of these chemical profiles will lead to the development of an electronic device capable of rapid diagnosis at the bedside, saving both time and money.

The study has just been published online in The FASEB Journal. It is the result of a collaboration between Dr Chris Probert, Consultant and Reader in Gastroenterology at Bristol University and Professor Norman Ratcliffe at the University of the West of England.

Keep reading here.

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Memorial Day is the traditional start of summer, and that means parties, cook-outs and picnics. But the El Paso County Health Department reports as many as 5,000 Americans will die, this year, from food-borne illnesses. Environmental Health Specialist, Laura Dixon, says "Food borne illness is caused by microorganisms from raw foods. And mostly e-coli, campylobacter, norovirus." She says food-borne illnesses are a real and present threat.

The CDC estimates that 76 million Americans will get sick from food borne illness each year. They say the problem is that most people think they'll get sick from eating out at restaurants. But Dixon says, "In fact, a lot of the diseases and illnesses are coming from your own home."

Keep reading here.

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Residents of Cayuga County and surrounding counties are being warned not to drink or use unpasteurized raw milk sold from a Genoa farm because of possible bacteria contamination, according the state Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Raw milk sold by the Phil Stauderman Farm, 3128 Blakely Road, Genoa, may be contaminated with Campylobacter, a bacteria that can cause diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, nausea, headache and muscle pain in children and young adult, according to a news release from the Department of Agriculture and Markets.

The Stauderman farm has a department permit to legally sell raw milk at the farm, according to the news release.

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What is Food Poisoning?

Food poisoning results when you eat food contaminated with bacteria or other pathogens such as parasites or viruses. Your symptoms may range from upset stomach to diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps and dehydration. Most such infections go undiagnosed and unreported.

But the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year about 76 million people in the United States become ill from pathogens in food, and about 5,000 of them die.

Over 55% of such cases are caused by improper cooking and storage of foods, and 24% by poor hygiene, such as not washing your hands while preparing food. Only 3% of cases are from unsafe food sources. Keeping your hands clean while working with food is the single most important thing you can do to prevent food poisoning.

Keep reading here

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The CDC today released its preliminary 2006 food-borne illness data from 10 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Tennessee. A total of 17,252 confirmed cases (actual cases may be anywhere between 20 and 30 times the confirmed cases) of food-borne illness were reported in those states in 2006, according to the CDC. The most commonly reported illnesses were:

Salmonella: 6,655 cases

Campylobacter: 5,712 cases

Shigella: 2,736 cases

Cryptosporidium: 859 cases

E. coli O157: 590 cases

E. coli non-O157: 209 cases

Yersinia: 158 cases

Vibrio: 154 cases

Listeria: 138 cases

Cyclospora: 41 cases

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Many people have spent a tropical vacation with a bad stomach bug. They might have had dysentery, a painful intestinal infection that is usually caused by bacteria and rarely by parasites. Dysentery is defined as diarrhea in which there is blood and pus.

There are two main types of dysentery. The first type, amoebic dysentery or intestinal amebiasis, is caused by a single-celled, microscopic parasite living in the large bowel . The second type, bacilliary dysentery, is caused by invasive bacteria. Both kinds of dysentery occur mostly in hot countries. Poor hygiene and sanitation increase the risk of dysentery by spreading the protozoa or bacteria that cause it through food or water contaminated by infected human feces.

Causes
Bacterial infections are by far the most common causes of dysentery. These infections include Shigella, Campylobacter, E. coli, and Salmonella species of bacteria. The frequency of each pathogen varies considerably in different regions of the world. For example, shigellosis is most common in Latin America while Campylobacter is the dominant bacteria in Southeast Asia. Dysentery can have a number of causes. Dysentery is rarely caused by chemical irritants or by intestinal worms.
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A York County dairy has suspended its raw milk sales for the second time in a month under the advice of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which warned that the milk might be linked to a case of gastrointestinal illness.

The state is advising people not to drink raw milk purchased from Stump Acres Dairy in New Salem since March 19. The dairy voluntarily suspended sales Tuesday, though the health department has not at this time established that any of the milk is contaminated with bacteria or otherwise unsafe.

"The results are still pending," said Larissa Bedrick, spokeswoman for the department of health.

The department also recommends a doctor visit for anyone who has become ill after consuming the dairy's raw milk.

Keep Reading Here

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Here is a safety alert about chicken. Our partners at Consumer Reports ran extensive tests for bacteria and found 83 percent of the chicken tested harbored the kinds of bacteria that are the leading causes of food poisoning.

Leighton Kunkle has nerve damage in his hands and feet from Guillain-Barré syndrome, a side effect of food poisoning caused by the bacteria campylobacter. He believes he got sick from eating undercooked chicken in a restaurant.

"I spend the next few months in the hospital, in ICU, sitting there paralyzed from the neck down, had to learn how to walk again, eat again, talk again," said Kunkle.

The chicken that was tested nationwide was examined to see if it contained the bacteria campylobacter or salmonella, the two leading bacterial causes of food poisoning.

Keep reading here

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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food said Monday bacteria that cause campylobacter were not found in milk samples tested last week.

Utah County health officials issued a warning against raw milk consumption last week after several cases of a severe food-borne illness were linked to products from the same dairy -- Woolsey's Dairy in Payson.

The department tested samples taken directly from a cow and a goat, the production line and from consumers.

The samples were not part of the original milking associated with the illnesses, the department said.

"We can't test milk consumed three weeks ago," spokesman Larry Lewis said.

Keep reading here.

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah County health officials issued a warning against raw milk consumption.

Seven cases of a severe food-borne illness have been linked to products from the same dairy.

Utah's Department of Agriculture and Food has issued a notice of investigation to Woolsey's Dairy in Payson, where the sick consumers say they purchased raw milk.

Keep reading here.

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The owner of a Utah County dairy that's being inspected by health officials says he doesn't know if raw milk from his dairy is what made seven people sick.

Lars Woolsey of Woolsey's Dairy in Payson says he does not think the milk is what caused the food-borne illness. Woolsey says he sent off samples to be tested earlier this week and the county health inspectors were at the dairy Wednesday.

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PAYSON — Utah County health officials issued a warning Wednesday about the outbreak of a food-borne illness that appears to be linked to a Payson dairy farm.

So far 15 people have tested positive for campylobacteriosis, an infectious disease caused by ingesting bacteria. Officials also say several others have reported symptoms similar to those caused by the bacteria.

The disease is not unusual and is rarely life-threatening, authorities say, but the recent outbreak is much larger than normal. "We basically have seen a fourfold increase" in the number of cases, said Lance Madigan, Utah County Health Department spokesman.

The disease usually causes diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever within one to 10 days after exposure. Some experience nausea or vomiting, as well.

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Science Daily — A University of Arkansas-led research team has found that an effective way to get rid of pathogenic Campylobcter bacteria in turkeys is to use proteins produced naturally by other bacteria. The proteins are called bacteriocins. The researchers found that these proteins can eliminate the detectable Campylobacter and that they can also change conditions in the gut so that the pathogen has fewer places to hide and develop.

“If we can eliminate Campylobacter, we don’t have to worry about antibiotic resistance,” said Dan Donoghue, a UA Division of Agriculture poultry science researcher who led the project funded by the Food Safety Consortium. The UA group worked with USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists led by Annie Donoghue in Fayetteville, Ark., and Norm Stern in Athens, Ga., along with several Russian government microbiologists.

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Science Daily — Researchers from The Netherlands have identified a protein in the digestive tract of chickens that may serve as an antimicrobial agent against food-borne pathogens. They report their findings in the March 2007 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Food-borne pathogens, responsible for most cases of food poisoning in developed countries, are commonly affiliated with poultry products including chicken. Therapeutic doses of antibiotics in chicken feed have been administered since the 1950s, but are now discouraged due to increasing rates of antibiotic resistance.

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WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) — U.S. regulators are expected to approve the use of a powerful antibiotic in cattle despite warnings it would speed the appearance of resistant microbes.

InterVet Inc., a Delaware company, has applied to the Food and Drug Administration to market Cefquinome for treatment of a pneumonia-like disease, the Washington Post reported. Its application is likely to be granted because of a change in FDA rules, unless a demonstrated direct danger to humans can be shown.

Critics like Edward Belongia, an epidemiologist at the Wisconsin-based Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, point to the approval of two powerful drugs in the 1990s for use in poultry. Doctors soon encountered a drug-resistant strain of campylobacter.

The industry says that 'until you show us a direct link to human mortality from the use of these drugs in animals, we don't think you should preclude their use,' Belongia told the Post. But do we really want to drive more resistance genes into the human population? It's easy to open the barn door, but it's hard to close the door once it's open.

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Alarming health department statistics show more than 800 South Australians have suffered food poisoning in the first seven weeks of this year.

This is more than double the year-to-date average of 379 for the past three years.

The usual health authority reckoning is that the confirmed cases represent about 10 per cent of the number of people affected, which would mean more than 8000 victims.

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The University of Vermont College of Medicine has been chosen as the single participating academic medical center in the nation to collaborate with the Navy Medical Research Center (NMRC) and Denmark-based ACE BioSciences in the development and evaluation of a new vaccine against one of the most common food-borne bacteria, Campylobacter. The first study in this multi-part collaboration is a new clinical trial designed to define the illness caused by this bacterium in healthy volunteers. Information from this work will be used to confirm the effectiveness of a new Campylobacter vaccine.


This Campylobacter research initiative is timely in the face of recent food-borne outbreaks due to similar bacteria, such as salmonella and E. coli. Campylobacter infections account for more than two million cases of food-borne illness and up to 100 deaths in the United States each year, as well as $1.5 to 1.8 billion in lost productivity. Infections from Campylobacter, usually occurring after consumption of inadequately cooked chicken, are frequently the most common cause of food-borne disease in the U.S. This species of bacteria also have a high degree of antibiotic resistance, which has increased the importance of vaccine development to prevent this infection. In the U.S., infections with Campylobacter are most common in young children, travelers, and military personnel, but infection is also extremely common in less developed nations.

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumers Union is
calling for the creation of a single food agency to ensure adequate,
efficient and effective oversight of our nation's food supply. Consumers
Union welcomes today's hearing in the House Agriculture Appropriations
Subcommittee to bring attention to the inadequacies in the government's
system to monitor food's safety.

As highlighted in last week's GAO report, the nation's food supply is a
"high-risk" area in need of immediate government attention to ensure the
continued safety and integrity of our food.

"Having multiple agencies responsible for making certain the food on
our table is safe to eat is a recipe for disaster," said Sally Greenberg,
senior counsel at Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.

"We support the proposal for a single agency with authority, resources and
leadership to oversee a safe and secure food supply in the 21st century
food market."

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KARACHI: A surveillance study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Campylobacter in meat, milk and other food commodities in Pakistan. Over a period of 3 years (January 2002-December 2004), a total of 1,636 food samples of meat, milk and other food commodities were procured from three big cities of Pakistan (Faisalabad, Lahore and Islamabad) and were analysed.

The study appeared in the journal Food Microbiology and was conducted by experts at the University of Agriculture, Faislabad.

Among meat samples, the highest prevalence (48 percent) of Campylobacter was recorded in raw chicken meat followed by raw beef (10.9 percent) and raw mutton (5.1 percent). Among other food commodities, the highest prevalence was observed in vegetable/fruit salads (40.9 percent), sandwiches (32 percent), cheese (11 percent) and raw bulk milk samples (10.2 percent). The overall prevalence of Campylobacter was found to be 21.5 percent, out of which 70.6 percent were identi?ed as Campylobacter (C.) jejuni and 29.4 percent as C. coli. The study reported that the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. was signi?cantly higher in food commodities which included raw/undercooked ingredients.

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Yale researchers now have some answers about how the bacterium that is the leading cause of food-borne illness in the United States enters cells of the gut and avoids detection and destruction, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Diego in December.

While scientists are just beginning to answer basic questions about how Campylobacter jejuni (campylobacter) causes infection, Robert Watson, a graduate student in the Section of Microbial Pathogenesis at Yale University School of Medicine worked out a better way to study the bacteria and reported that it takes an uncommon path as it infects cells.

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Campylobacter infection is a worldwide public health concern and is the leading cause of enteric illness in many countries. With about 50,000 human cases of illness per year, campylobacter is the most common known cause of food borne infection contracted inUK.

Tougher regulatory standards and more stringent testing cause delays in products hitting the shelves and so processors are constantly searching for faster methods to test food safety.

A new campylobacter testing system, developed by DuPont, can reduce result times from days to hours, compared to traditional methods, the manufacturer claims.

Keep reading here.

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Oxoid, marketing partner for the DuPont Qualicon Bax system in Europe, Australia and Canada, announces the launch of the new Bax real time PCR assay for Campylobacter

Most current screening procedures for Campylobacter are culture-based, take at least three days for a result and do not differentiate between species without additional investigational work. The new Bax real time campylobacter assay allows:. Differentiation between the pathogenic species C jejuni, C coli and C lari.

Quantification of three campylobacter species.

Same day results for highly contaminated samples (direct protocol).

Next day/two day results for samples requiring enrichment.

Campylobacter infection is a worldwide public health concern and is the leading cause of enteric illness in many countries.

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The Your Health blog has posted an article titled, "Gastroenteritis in Children," in which the author discusses several different causes of gastrointestinal distress, one being Campylobacter infection. From the article:

Gastroenteritis can also be caused by consuming infected food (food poisoning). Vomiting is more prominent than diarrhea in a person who has food poisoning. There are many types of bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Salmonella, Shigella, Staphylococcus and Campylobacter are some of the common ones."

The article's author also points out that dehydration is a concern among children who become ill with a gastrointestinal illness, and that vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps are common symptoms.

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A graduate student at Yale University has uncovered the answer to how Campylobacter jejuni is able to penetrate intestinal epithelial cells. This research was highlighted in a recent press release:

Yale researchers now have some answers about how the bacterium that is the leading cause of food-borne illness in the United States enters cells of the gut and avoids detection and destruction, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Diego in December.

While scientists are just beginning to answer basic questions about how Campylobacter jejuni ( campylobacter ) causes infection, Robert Watson, a graduate student in the Section of Microbial Pathogenesis at Yale University School of Medicine worked out a better way to study the bacteria and reported that it takes an uncommon path as it infects cells.

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The Clarion-Ledger posted an article today about keeping nutritious foods safe to eat, focusing on keeping hot foods hot, cold foods cold, and other food safety measures promoted by health officials and food safety advocates. The article, which can be found here, includes a sidebar with information about foodborne pathogens, including E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and Campylobacter.

What the authors had to say about Campylobacter (paraphrased from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site):

Campylobacter is often associated with raw poultry. This pathogen causes fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. It is the most commonly identified bacterial cause of diarrhea illness in the world. These bacteria live in the intestines of healthy birds, and most raw poultry meat has campylobacter on it. Eating undercooked chicken, or other food contaminated with juices dripping from raw chicken is the most frequent source of this infection.

Click here to learn more about Campylobacter and how to prevent campylobacteriosis.

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NorthJersey.com featured an article today on keeping eggnog safe by either buying pasteurized eggnog or using pasteurized eggs to make home-made eggnog. Salmonella and Campylobacter are common causes of foodborne illness that can be caused by eating raw eggs, and health officials are urging consumers to take precautions to prevent illness over the holidays.

Feldman advises against using raw eggs for the eggnog; instead, he suggests using pasteurized egg products, the kind found in cardboard containers in the dairy section of the supermarket, or pre-made eggnogs, all of which are pasteurized. The taste is different -- more like a cooked egg than a raw one -- but it's safer.

Raw eggs can carry two main disease-causing bacteria: salmonella and campylobacter. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contaminated eggshells caused 182,000 cases of salmonella poisoning in 2000. For most people, that means nothing more than flu-like symptoms, but those with weak immune systems can suffer more severe illness. Campylobacter infections, called campylobacteriosis, lead to a few days of abdominal discomfort and diarrhea, but the body usually takes care of it."

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Chicago's ABC7.com is reporting on a recent study conducted by Consumer Reports that revealed levels of Campylobacter and Salmonella bacterial contamination in raw chicken. Consumer Reports researcher Geoff Martin oversaw the testing.

'We found that only 17 percent of the chicken we tested was free of both salmonella and campylobacter. And overall premium brands were a little more likely to carry salmonella,' said Martin.

The tests revealed an even bigger worry. Often the bacteria were resistant to one or more antibiotics.

'That means if you get sick, some antibiotics might not work,' said Martin.

Consumer Reports also reported on concerns regarding plant testing:

In August 2006, the USDA reported that the rate of positive salmonella tests in broilers had jumped to 16.3 percent in 2005, up from 11.5 percent in 2002. Richard Lobb, a spokesman for the National Chicken Council, a trade group, said it’s not clear why the rate went up in 2005, but he cited preliminary government data indicating that it has since declined. Cohen of the FSIS added that the agency has begun an initiative aimed at curbing salmonella by focusing on plants that failed the federal standard or had problems meeting it.

The full report can be found at the Consumer Reports Web site here.

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Radio New Zealand reported that the New Zealand Health Authority is working to prevent Campylobacter from reaching consumers there. In an explanation of why Campylobacter infection is common, and is a serious concern, the health authority stated that, "Cmpylobacter exists in farm animals generally but poultry is regarded as the primary pathway for spreading the disease to consumers. . . . [T]he disease is probably entering the food chain with the birds at the farm."

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The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle posted a recent article about the risks of drinking raw milk. Those risks include contracting campylobacteriosis, the illness caused by ingestion of Campylobacter bacteria. According to the article:

"There are no significant nutritional differences between raw milk and pasteurized milk. Drinking raw milk or eating raw milk products is 'like playing Russian roulette with your health,' he says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommend that no one consume unpasteurized (raw) milk.

Pasteurization became widespread in the 1920s to destroy bacteria in milk that caused tuberculosis, diphtheria and typhoid fever. Other harmful bacteria, like campylobacter jejuni, E. coli 0157:H7, listeria monocytogenes, and salmonella, that may get into the milk through cross-contamination are also destroyed. As a result, milk-borne outbreaks have been reduced from 25 percent to just 1 percent today."

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The Adopt A Microbe blog has a great post about Campylobacter jejuni. The blog is designed to teach kids about microbes in a book-like way online. One of the quotes from this post was from Campylobacter jejuni: "I get into people through dirty drinking water or undercooked meat, especialy chicken." Kids should also know that proper handwashing and good sanitation in the kitchen can prevent C. jejuni from spreading from raw poultry or other foods to humans.

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PharmaLive posted an update on the FDA's watch on the Menactra (Meningococcal Conjugate Vaccine) and its connection to reports of Guillain Barre Syndrome. Although the article was about GBS as a result of vaccination, it is important to remember that Campylobacter jejuni and other gastrointestinal "bugs" can cause GBS in humans. From the article:

"Clinical data for other possible causes of GBS frequently were not available when investigating the 17 cases of GBS after MCV4 vaccination. Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of gastroenteritis and the most frequent antecedent pathogen in GBS cases (5). None of the patients had reported diarrheal prodromes; however, many C. jejuni infections are asymptomatic. Three of the 17 patients had stool cultures; one was tested for C. jejuni, and the results were negative. A serum sample from one of the patients was tested for C. jejuni, and the result was negative; no other serum samples were available for testing. None of the states where the patients resided reported outbreaks of C. jejuni during June 2005--September 2006."

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The Wilson Daily reported today about a Campylobacter outbreak among Wilson, North Carolina, residents. According to the article, an investigation into the outbreak is ongoing.

Health Department employees investigated the food poisoning cases and visited two Wilson restaurants. Neither were linked to the food poisoning.

Hospital workers reported the food poisoning cases to the Health Department, which investigated two restaurants. Ray Hudnell, environmental health supervisor at the Health Department, said the report was received after the incident occurred.

Several of the victims of the outbreak were hospitalized for dehydration.

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Michigan is the latest state to crack down on farmers who produce and sell raw milk.  A Business Week article from today calls enforcement actions by Michigan health authorities "inappropriate," but does include a quote from the Michigan Department of Agriculture spokeswoman on why enforcement is necessary:

"We've had an investigation for several months now," says Katherine Fedder, director of the Michigan Agriculture Dept.'s food & dairy division. The investigation, she says, began with a report from a local public-health department last spring about children who had become sick who " had consumed unpasteurized milk." She noted, though, that the children's illness was never traced back to raw milk or any other specific food. In any event, a department inspector joined the co-op to purchase milk and expand the investigation.

"Our concern is that there's a violation of the Michigan law to distribute misbranded products and unpasteurized dairy products out of an MDA-licensed food establishment," Fedder says, adding that the investigation of the computers, records, and milk products confiscated will likely take "a few more weeks before we have a clarification."

Then, Hebron and/or the co-op could be charged with "a whole variety of things" under a Michigan food law and a dairy law.

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Washington Post reporter Thomas Bartlett wrote about raw milk and the group of people who "swear by the virtues" of unpasteurized milk in an October 1st article.

In Maryland, where I live, as in most other states, you can't walk into a store and buy raw milk. That's because, while possession of raw milk is legal, selling it is a crime. It's also a violation of federal law to transport raw milk across state lines with the intent to sell it for human consumption. The Tennessee dairy that sold it to me offers raw milk as pet food. The dairy's Web site warns that "due to significant legal and liability issues, we cannot and will not answer questions regarding human consumption of these or any other raw milk products -- please don't ask."

Barrett mentions that in a conversation with a Maryland health official raw milk was compared to heroin or marijuana. Continue Reading...

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Marilynn Marchione, medical writer for the Associated Press, wrote a recent article on the decline in fooodborne illnesses reported by CDC.  In the article, she points out that federal statistics show that foodborne illnesses are occurring at record-low rates, but

The trend could reverse in coming years if fruit and vegetable growers do not address problems like those that led to the spinach scare, Tauxe and others said."

"The meat and poultry industry has made great strides. The produce industry has a long way to go to catch up," said Michael Doyle, a microbiologist who heads the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety.

Compared with statistics from 1996-1998, CDC's FoodNet tracking system has reported a decrease in nearly every major foodborne illness.  Campylobacter infections are down 30 percent.  The bacterium, which along with Salmonella sickens the most people, usually is found in raw or undercooked poultry or eggs.
Continue Reading...

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Jefferson County, Colorado, is celebrating food safety month. Jefferson County reported that in 2006 it has followed up on 118 cases of foodborne illness, but noted that:

It is likely that many more went unreported. Most cases of food-borne illness can be prevented with proper food handling and preparation procedures such as regular handwashing and cooking and cooling to proper temperatures.

This is what the Health Department reported so far:

51 cases of Salmonella

56 cases of Campylobacter

5 cases of E. coli O157:H7

and 6 cases of hepatitis A

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There is a great description of Campylobacteriosis, the illness caused by Campylobacter infection over at Blogger. The author, Lindsay, mentions that, "People can get this infection by eating contaminated food, drinking contaminated water, or by drinking unpasteurized milk. The bacterium is normally found in poorly or undercooked meat and poultry." She also mentions other ways the Campylobacter bacterium can be transmitted.

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From www.about-campylobacter.com

Campylobacter jejuni (Pronounced "camp-e-low-back-ter j-june-eye") was not recognized as a cause of human foodborne illness prior to 1975. Now, the bacterial organism is known to be the most common cause of bacterial foodborne illness in the U.S.  (Salmonella is the second most common cause).

Most cases Campylobacter infection occur as isolated, sporadic events, not as a part of the large outbreaks. Even though surveillance is very limited, over 10,000 cases are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year. Active surveillance for cases indicates that over 17 cases for each 100,000 persons in the population (or about 46,000 cases) are diagnosed yearly. Undoubtedly, many more cases go undiagnosed and unreported, and estimates are that Campylobacter causes 2-4 million cases per year in the United States.

Campylobacteriosis occurs more frequently in the summer months than in the winter. Although Campylobacter doesn't commonly cause death, it has been estimated that 100 persons with Campylobacter infections die each year from the infection. Recently, the CDC reported that Campylobacter infections related to raw or uncooked poultry fell by 28%.

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The New Zealand Medical Association released a paper on food-associated Campylobacteriosis  in August, 2006.  It can be found at http://www.nzma.org.nz/news/media-releases/flies.pdf.

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1. Name of the Organism:

    Campylobacter jejuni (formerly known as Campylobacter fetus subsp. jejuni) Campylobacter jejuni is a Gram-negative slender, curved, and motile rod. It is a microaerophilic organism, which means it has a requirement for reduced levels of oxygen. It is relatively fragile, and sensitive to environmental stresses (e.g., 21% oxygen, drying, heating, disinfectants, acidic conditions). Because of its microaerophilic characteristics the organism requires 3 to 5% oxygen and 2 to 10% carbon dioxide for optimal growth conditions. This bacterium is now recognized as an important enteric pathogen. Before 1972, when methods were developed for its isolation from feces, it was believed to be primarily an animal pathogen causing abortion and enteritis in sheep and cattle. Surveys have shown that C. jejuni is the leading cause of bacterial diarrheal illness in the United States. It causes more disease than Shigella spp. and Salmonella spp. combined.

    Although C. jejuni is not carried by healthy individuals in the United States or Europe, it is often isolated from healthy cattle, chickens, birds and even flies. It is sometimes present in non-chlorinated water sources such as streams and ponds.

    Because the pathogenic mechanisms of C. jejuni are still being studied, it is difficult to differentiate pathogenic from nonpathogenic strains. However, it appears that many of the chicken isolates are pathogens Continue Reading...

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Sharon Durham, an Agricultural Research Service Informational Service writer with the USDA, wrote about solutions to Campyloacter contamination in poultry processing facilities in Poultry Today.  Her article was based on research at USDA's ARS.

One foodborne pathogen of particular interest is campylobacter, which may cause mild to severe diarrhea and fever in humans and possibly result in a secondary, neurological condition known as Guillain-BarrÈ Syndrome. Campylobacter is commonly found in the intestinal tracts of swine, cattle and poultry. It may be deposited onto trucks, trailers and coops when the animals are transported to processing plants.

Continue Reading...

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By David Hunt and Bob Stiles TRIBUNE-REVIEW
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, August 27, 2006

At least six of Jeannette's 32 bars and restaurants have been deemed clean enough to serve food and drinks this year -- even though an inspector didn't set foot in any of them.

The cash-strapped city lost its health inspector last September. City Clerk Ron Dinsmore said in July that he was forced to rubber-stamp the licenses for the six businesses so they could meet state liquor-license requirements and stay open.

"I'm concerned because there are some we've had problems with, but most we haven't. Most of them are very good," he said. "I extended them only because of the fact that they needed them extended."

Six of 67 counties in Pennsylvania handle restaurant inspections through county health departments, but Westmoreland isn't one of them. County officials say they aren't interested in developing a program to monitor health conditions in the county's more than 1,500 restaurants even if other programs aren't working.

"We're not looking to expand the mission of county government. We've got enough on our plate, enough financial challenges already," said Commissioner Chairman Tom Balya. Continue Reading...

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Nakatani shows heart after illness
Jockey wins Pacific Classic eight days after being released from hospital

By Jay Privman
Daily Racing Form
Aug 23, 2006

DEL MAR, Calif. - Campylobacter jejuni. It looks like what would print out if you smashed your fist on a keyboard. But those tongue-twisting words are the technical name for the bacteria that afflicted jockey Corey Nakatani two weeks ago, made him violently ill, and forced him to a hospital for five days of treatment.

Only eight days after being released from the hospital, Nakatani won the Pacific Classic on Sunday aboard Lava Man. Yet Nakatani admits he is still not back at full strength. He was so drained from Sunday's races that he took off the second of his two scheduled mounts Monday at Del Mar after riding his first mount.

"I'm still a little weak," Nakatani said Sunday, a couple of hours after riding Lava Man. "Being in intensive care a week ago, I'm not going to be at my strongest."

Continue Reading...

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Monday August 14, 2006
By Stephen Ward

The chicken industry says sales have remained steady despite the scare about high rates of human campylobacter infection.

A University of Otago study that appeared last month said New Zealand's campylobacter rates were the world's highest. One finding was that up to 90 per cent of fresh raw chicken was contaminated when sold to consumers.

But the Poultry Industry Association's executive director, Michael Brooks, believes contamination rates are more like 30-40 per cent.

The association said some regions had seen a minor fluctuation in sales, but the overall trend remained steady.

It stressed that proper cooking of meat killed campylobacter.

The scare came after Meat and Wool New Zealand figures showed a decline in poultry consumption in the year to March, unrelated to campylobacter.

Continue Reading...

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13 August 2006
By RACHEL GRUNWELL

Paul White was paralysed by poorly cooked lamb shanks. At one stage the Auckland engineer couldn't breathe unassisted or even blink. His eyes had to be taped shut at night so he could sleep.

This is the frightening world of an extreme case of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which can leave people unable to move.

There is no single cause of GBS, but it can develop a week or two after a throat or intestinal infection. Campylobacter is one recognised cause.

A recent Otago University study showed New Zealand rates of campylobacter poisoning have nearly trebled in the past 15 years to be the highest in the world. Reported cases totalled 1425 in May alone.

Campylobacter is a bacterium that causes stomach cramps, fever and diarrhoea for up to a week.

Continue Reading...

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Three times higher than Australia; 30 times higher than the US
09 July 2006

University of Otago public health researchers say New Zealand should seriously consider banning the sale of fresh chicken for human consumption, and switch to frozen chicken instead, to alleviate the country's serious campylobacter epidemic.

A study by the University's Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences' researchers just published in the international journal Epidemiology and Infection paints an alarming picture about the rate of campylobacter infection in New Zealand. Infection rates have risen steadily for more than two decades and are now more than three times higher than that reported in Australia and 30 times higher than the United States. This is the first time that New Zealand's comparative situation has been quantified and comprehensively reported in an international peer-review journal. Since the research was completed, rates have risen to a new high of 416/100,000 for the 12 months ending May 2006, based on 15,553 cases notified during that period.

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Updated 8/6/2006
By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY

John Langlois feels so strongly about the benefits of unpasteurized goat milk that he pays $19 a gallon to have it shipped from a South Carolina dairy to his home in Estillfork, Ala. He credits it with giving him more energy, curing his grandson's chronic diarrhea when he was an infant and keeping the boy "steady" rather than "bouncing off the walls" now that he's 5.

Elizabeth Benner of Rochester, N.Y., drives 45 minutes each way to a dairy to get a week's worth of raw cow's milk for nine families in the milk club she organized. She says she was "really struggling" on a low-fat, vegan diet but regained her strength when she added whole raw milk and cream to her diet.

Christina Trecaso of Copley, Ohio, is in a herd share program. She and 150 other families pay boarding costs for "their" cows and take their profits in milk, butter and cream. For her, it's about "buying food that is minimally processed, food that is procured in a 100-mile radius. ... It's about relationships and shaking the hand that feeds you."

Continue Reading...

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The French scientist Louis Pasteur invented pasteurization to preserve wine 140 years ago. The process was first widely used to treat to milk in the USA in the 1920s.

Today, pasteurization heats milk to 161 degrees for 15 seconds, which destroys harmful bacteria without significantly changing milk's nutritional value, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Unpasteurized and pasteurized milk taste the same, but fresher milk is generally sweeter because bacteria combine over time with the milk sugar to form tart lactic acid, which is found in yogurt, says Marie Walsh, a food scientist at Utah State University in Logan. That could account for the common perception that raw milk is sweeter, because it's often fresher.

In 1938, milk-borne outbreaks constituted 25% of all disease outbreaks from contaminated food and water. Today that figure is 1%, in part because of pasteurization, says Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C.

Pasteurization is "one of the most significant public health successes of all time," says Michael Lynch, an expert in gastric diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

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The Associated Press

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming Health Department officials have confirmed that fecal matter contaminated the water supply at an Albany County Bible camp where dozens of camp-goers have become sick.

According to the Health Department, lab tests have confirmed both viral and bacterial infections in about a dozen camp-goers, including nine cases of norovirus, six cases of Campylobacter jejuni, a bacterial infection; three people were found to have both.

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Thursday, 27 July 2006, 2:54 pm
Press Release: Green Party
27 July 2006

The Green Party is alarmed that the Government will not take any decisive action in the foreseeable future to reduce the epidemic of campylobacter infections in New Zealand while it waits for yet more advice.

In the House today the Minister of Food Safety, in response to questioning by Greens' Food Safety Spokesperson Sue Kedgley, said they would not act until further research was conducted.

Continue Reading...

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Are happy chickens safe chickens? One researcher believes so, outlining a possible role of bird stress on the number of campylobacter positive flocks.
Speaking at the recent 2006 World Poultry Science Association meeting in York, Tom Humphrey of the University of Bristol revealed new results that show the incidence of campylobacter had fallen from 76% in 1993 to 20% in 2005.
Prof Humphrey believes this reduction is mainly through attention to detail and improved biosecurity, but many questions remain, including why does it peak in summer?
The reason for the peak is unclear and Prof Humphrey questioned whether it was due to stress of higher temperatures or greater airflow bringing more infected flies into the shed.
He then outlined evidence that increased stress gives the pathogen a helping hand in infecting the bird, including Irish research showing a six-fold increase in campylobacter in chickens after transport to the abattoir.
For the full article, see the new relaunched Poultry World.
Author: Richard Allison

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By DAN RAHN University of Georgia

You pack your child's lunch for school early in the morning, but she doesn't eat it until lunchtime. Is it still safe then? Foodborne illnesses can be serious, even deadly, for young children especially. But lunch doesn't have to be risky.

"It's not hard to keep packed lunches safe," said Connie Crawley, a Cooperative Extension nutrition and health specialist with the University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences. "But it takes some thought and preparation."

In a packed school lunch, Crawley said, food safety depends on what you pack and how you pack it.

Choosing the food is a big step. Many of your child's favorites are perfectly safe at room temperature.

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Scientists who look for ways to eliminate foodborne pathogens are up against another obstacle: those pathogens that resist antibiotics. In particular, they want to single out the resistant bacteria for special attention and get rid of them.

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Tuesday, July 25, 2006

By NANCY LUNA
The Orange County Register

A San Clemente woman left with permanent nerve damage after eating an Ahi tuna appetizer at Salt Creek Grille was awarded $3.2 million by an Orange County jury.

The Dana Point eatery plans to appeal the July 11 verdict for Alexis Sarti, 22. She sued the 10-year-old Craftsman-style eatery after a near fatal incident stemming from "cross contamination" of her raw fish with campylobacter jejuni, bacteria found in raw poultry.

The bacteria attacked her nervous system, causing temporary double vision and paralysis from head to toe after the April, 2005 incident, according to the lawsuit she filed last year.

A jury ordered Salt Creek to pay her $3.2 million in damages, considered one of the largest punitive fines levied against a California restaurant in a case involving this specific bacteria, said Sarti's Newport Beach attorneys Keith Bremer and Tyler Offenhauser.

In a statement released today, Salt Creek's president and co-founder Tim McCune said he is confident that the verdict would be overturned on appeal "and our company and staff will be vindicated."

"Salt Creek Grille has been in business for 10 years," McCune stated. "During that time and in our three locations, we have served well over two million guests. Our number one priority has been, and will always be, the safety and well being of our guests."

As a result of the incident, Sarti, a cross-country runner, said she has 40 percent nerve damage in her body and can't walk long distances. She often uses a wheelchair, she said. "I still can't walk up and down stairs and I can't run," Sarti said today.

CONTACT US: nluna@ocregister.com

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21.jul.06
Massey University Press Release

A ban on the sale of fresh chicken meat is the not answer to preventing outbreaks of campylobacteriosis says food microbiologist Associate Professor John Brooks.

He says the media focus on the comparatively high incidence of campylobacteria outbreak in New Zealand has been triggered by incomplete information.

"No clear mode of transmission has been established between chicken meat and humans. Campylobacter is also found in cattle and sheep, ducks and domestic pets, and water and dairy farm effluent have also been found frequently to be contaminated."

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11.jul.06
Helena IR
Laura Behenna

We've all heard news reports in recent years of people sickened or even dying from consuming food contaminated with E. coli or Salmonella bacteria.

So I was astonished recently to learn that bacteria called campylobacter cause many more cases of food-borne illness than either E. coli or Salmonella.

"Campylobacter is the leading cause of gastrointestinal illness in the United States, yet nobody's heard of it," Laura Hendley, a sanitarian with the Lewis & Clark City-County Health Department, informed me last week.

"Especially in this county," her colleague Laurel Riek said. Riek added that between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2005, Lewis & Clark County recorded 18 cases of campylobacter infection, compared with only six cases of illness from Salmonella.

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03 Jul 2006

Health and food safety experts say they are at a loss to explain a big rise in the number of cases of the food poisoning bug, campylobacter.

More commonly found in rural parts of the country, campylobacter now seems to be affecting larger numbers of city residents.

Donald Campbell, the principal public health advisor with the Food Safety Authority, says cases have jumped from an average 200 a week to 250 in recent months for no obvious reason.

Scientists, food safety experts and health professionals are using computer modelling to find ways to stop the number of cases increasing.

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Monday, 3 July 2006
Press Release: New Zealand Food Safety Authority

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) is concerned about the continuing increase in cases of human campylobacter infection, highlighted in the latest monthly surveillance report from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research.

Campylobacter is a bacterium commonly found in animals and the environment. Since being made a notifiable disease in 1980, New Zealand's reported cases of campylobacteriosis have risen steadily and health professionals acknowledge it as a major public health concern.

The source or sources of the latest rise in numbers are not clear and are the subject of investigations being undertaken by ESR. However, any increase in cases of the disease also increases the potential for contamination of food to occur from infected individuals, particularly in the home.

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June 28, 2006
Associated Press
Joe Milicia

MOUNT HOPE, Ohio -- Arlie Stutzman was busted in a rare sting when an undercover agent bought raw milk from the Amish dairy farmer in an unlabeled container.

Now, Stutsman is fighting the law that forbids the sale of raw milk, saying he believes it violates his religious beliefs because it prohibits him from sharing the milk he produces with others.

"While I can and I have food, I'll share it," said Stutzman, who is due in Holmes County Common Pleas Court on Friday to tell a judge his views. "Do unto others what you would have others do unto you."

Last September, a man came to Stutzman's weathered, two-story farmhouse, located in a pastoral region in northeast Ohio that has the world's largest Amish settlement. The man asked for milk.

Stutzman was leery, but agreed to fill up the man's plastic container from a 250-gallon stainless steel tank in the milkhouse.

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Unlicensed cheese-maker ordered to halt operations

By RICK OLIVO Staff Writer
The Daily Press
Monday, June 26th, 2006

Cheese curds infected with the Campylobacter bacteria are now being blamed for over 100 suspected cases of illness in places as far away as Oregon.

The contaminated cheese curds were manufactured by an unlicensed Highbridge cheese-maker using unpasteurized milk, says the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services.

Wesley Lindquist was ordered to cease the production of curds and any other dairy products following the outbreak, which apparently began shortly after Memorial Day when a number of visitors were in the Ashland area for graduations and other events. Over 40 confirmed cases of illness have been identified as coming from the tainted curds, and many others from different areas of the state and even other states have also become ill.

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BY JOHN SCHMELTZER
Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO - Antibiotic-free foods are not necessarily safer, according to an Institute of Food Technologists study to be released Monday.

The study, conducted by a panel of food scientists and microbiologists, aims for the heart of the marketing campaigns in the last decade by organic food advocates who have suggested there is an overuse of antibiotics and that antibiotic-free foods are better for human consumption.

One such group is the Organic Trade Association, based in Greenfield, Mass., which represents many of the nation's organic food producers. The association cites 10 studies from 2000 and 2001 of antibiotic use in farming to support its stand that antibiotics have been abused by American farmers.

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Unlicensed cheesemaker told to halt production

By JESSE GARZA
jgarza@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 22, 2006

More than 40 people have become ill after eating unpasteurized cheese curds produced by Wesley Lindquist of Highbridge, state health officials said Thursday.

Test results from six of those people confirmed the presence of Campylobacter jejuni bacteria, a statement from the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services said.

The bacteria cause nausea, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, fever and vomiting. On rare occasions, those affected develop more severe complications such as temporary arthritis or paralysis, generally after the initial symptoms have disappeared, the statement said.

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State health officials are advising people to avoid eating unpasteurized cheese curds produced by Wesley Lindquist of Highbridge in Ashland County.

The cheese curds have been connected to an outbreak of campylobacter jejuni, a form of food poisoning. More than 40 people have become ill with symptoms including nausea, diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping, fever and vomiting after eating the unpasteurized white cheese curds. Most started to become ill between May 24 and June 2.

People experiencing these symptoms who recently consumed unpasteurized milk or dairy products should contact their health care providers and notify the Ashland County Health Department. It is illegal to sell or distribute unpasteurized dairy products in Wisconsin.

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KidsHealth.org
Jun 20, 2006

You probably have lots of concerns about the foods you give to your child. Is it a nutritious meal? Will your child eat it? Is there too much fat? But one thing that may not cross your mind as you're slicing and dicing in the kitchen is food safety.

Why is food safety so important? Proper food preparations are necessary to prevent your family from becoming sick from food-borne illnesses caused by bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter and Listeria (which can cause symptoms such as diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, and dehydration). Food safety precautions include knowing how to select foods in the grocery store, how to store them, how to cook them, and how to clean up afterward.

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June 6, 2006
National Center for Infectious Diseases

Each year, people become ill from drinking raw milk and eating foods made from raw dairy products. Unlike most of the milk, cheese, and dairy products sold in the United States, raw milk and raw dairy products have not been heat treated or pasteurized to kill germs. Although many states outlaw the sale of these items, many people including dairy producers, farm workers and their families, and some ethnic groups continue to drink raw milk and eat foods made from raw dairy products. Several types of raw cheeses such as feta, brie, queso fresco, sheep's and goat's milk cheese have been illegally sold in the United States.

Germs in These Products Cause Thousands of Illnesses

Raw milk and raw dairy products may carry many types of disease-causing germs such as Campylobacter, Escherichia coli, Listeria, Salmonella, Yersinia, and Brucella. When raw milk or raw milk products become contaminated, people who eat the contaminated foods can get sick. Here are a few examples of outbreaks that have been reported since 2000:

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County has 13 possible cases of bacterial illness

June 7, 2006
The Daily Press (Wisconsin)
Rick Olivo

Ashland County and state public health officials are investigating an outbreak of a diarrheal illness that is possibly related to an unpasteurized dairy product.

According to Ashland County Health Officer Terry Kramolis, one person has been confirmed with an infection by the Campylobacter bacteria, which can cause nausea, diarrhea, abdominal cramping and occasional vomiting. On rare occasions, the illness has more severe complications such as temporary arthritis or paralysis, generally after the initial symptoms have disappeared.

"Currently, 13 people from Ashland County have probable Campylobacter infections," Kramolis said. "And several people have been hospitalized.

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DON THOMPSON
Associated Press
Jun. 02, 2006

SACRAMENTO - Spoiled milk was likely responsible for an outbreak of gastroenteritis that sickened more than 1,300 inmates and 14 employees at 11 state prisons last month, officials said Friday.

The inmates and employees had symptoms between May 16 and 26 that included fever, headaches, diarrhea, cramping and vomiting caused by campylobacter, a bacteria.

Investigators were never able to find the bacteria in food and milk samples, and they said milk processing equipment tested clean at the Deuel Vocational Institution farm in Tracy, which supplied milk to the 11 prisons.

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DON THOMPSON
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO - Spoiled milk was likely responsible for an outbreak of gastroenteritis that sickened more than 1,300 inmates and 14 employees at 11 state prisons last month, officials said Friday.

The inmates and employees had symptoms between May 16 and 26 that included fever, headaches, diarrhea, cramping and vomiting caused by campylobacter, a bacteria.

Investigators were never able to find the bacteria in food and milk samples, and they said milk processing equipment tested clean at the Deuel Vocational Institution farm in Tracy, which supplied milk to the 11 prisons.

But milk was "the only food item that had any significant connection" among the sick inmates, said Dr. Mark Starr of the California Department of Health Services. "It was quite a dramatic difference."

Those who consumed milk were 11 times more likely to have symptoms, he said.

The animal-borne bacteria is commonly spread to humans through meats or animal-contaminated milk or water.

Dr. Stephen Beam, chief of the milk and food safety branch of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, speculated that contaminated containers, packaging equipment or holding tanks may have been the problem, as the farm's pasteurization process and other procedures met health standards.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's acting secretary, James E. Tilton, said there was no evidence of human tampering. A few inmates were treated at prison infirmaries, but most were treated in their cells.

"The outbreak seems to be over," and the public was never affected, he said.

Dairy production was shut down for a few hours for inspection May 19, and 25,000 half-pint containers of milk produced May 8-18 were recalled and destroyed. Milk containers during that period had a higher bacteria count, Beam said, but the bacteria could not be identified.

The farm at Deuel produces about 6,000 gallons of raw milk each day. It is one of three prison dairies that employ about 300 inmates and supply milk to all but three of the state's prisons.

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May 28, 2006
The Reporter (Vacaville, CA)

More than 1,300 inmates in 11 state prisons have been diagnosed since mid-May with a bacterial infection that causes flu-like symptoms.

Nearly three dozen of these are inmates at California Medical Facility in Vacaville.

The illness, caused by a bacteria called campylobacter, was first reported at Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy on May 16, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

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WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) --

The U.S. House of Representatives this week passed a bill that would allocate $1 million to the Food and Drug Administration`s Center for Veterinary Medicine for reviewing the safety of the drugs when used in animals, in light of the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance.

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May 24, 2006
LA Times
Jenifer Warren

SACRAMENTO -- Nearly 1,300 inmates at nine California prisons have been stricken with gastroenteritis, according to corrections officials, who remain stumped by the source of the bacterial outbreak.

Some inmates have been hospitalized, but most have been treated in their cells for vomiting, fever, headaches, diarrhea and cramping caused by Campylobacter bacteria. A small number of staff members also have become ill.

The symptoms surfaced at Deuel Vocational Institute in Tracy, east of San Francisco, where 379 inmates have fallen ill since May 16. The contagious disease has since struck inmates at state prisons elsewhere in the San Joaquin Valley and also in Folsom, the Sierra foothills and Norco in Riverside County.

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The Record
Published Tuesday, May 23, 2006

TRACY - The number of prison inmates with flulike symptoms continues to rise statewide, but no more inmates at Deuel Vocational Institution have become sick, a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman said Monday.

At least 1,300 inmates at 10 prisons have fallen ill in the past week, corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said.

Tests at Tracy's Deuel and Ione's Mule Creek State Prison found the culprit to be campylobacter, a bacterium spread through contaminated food and water. Prison officials have enlisted state health officials' help in finding the bacterium's source, Thornton said.

The outbreak began last week at Deuel, where the number of inmates suffering from fever, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea peaked Friday at 379.

Other affected prisons are Valley State Prison for Women; Central California Women's Facility; Wasco State Prison; Folsom State Prison; California Rehabilitation Center; Sierra Conservation Center; California State Prison, Sacramento; and California Rehabilitation Center.

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May 20, 2006
The North Bay Nugget

POWASSAN -- Customers of the Kwik-way Variety Store at 497 Main St. have been advised by health officials not to drink bagged milk purchased between May 13 and 18.

Dr. Catherine Whiting, medical officer of health, issued the localized food recall Friday afternoon.

"This precautionary recall is due to reported cases of illness which may be related to the consumption of milk products sold from this location,"
stated a North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit media release.

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The Stockton Record
May 20, 2006

TRACY - Bacteria, not the so-called "cruise ship virus," is the culprit upsetting stomachs inside Tracy's Deuel Vocational Institution, a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman said Friday.

Campylobacter, a bacterium spread through contaminated food and water, has knocked 379 inmates at Deuel off their feet, said Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton.

County health and state prison officials had suspected the norovirus, which is known to cause cruise ship passengers gut-wrenching pain. That was ruled out at Deuel by Friday evening when test results determined the bacterium cause the widespread illness, Thornton said.

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Last Update: Tuesday, May 16, 2006. 11:19am (AEST)

A south-east South Australian environmental health officer has warned about a bacteria found on raw poultry and on animals, which he believes is on the increase.

Naracoorte Lucindale Council's Dr Bob Netherton says the campylobacter bacteria commonly causes gastroenteritis, but can also cause other illnesses.

During a recent presentation to Tatiara District Council, Dr Netherton said the infection is linked to Gillain Barre Syndrome, which causes paralysis.

"Campylobacter is out of control in South Australia and now it has been increasing associated to Gillain Barre Syndrome, so we do need to know a little bit about that," he said.

"The way campylobacter affects the immune system to produce Gillain Barre Syndrome is known and the sooner we do something about it, the better."

Ways to control the spread of the bacteria include safe food handling practices and washing hands after dealing with animals.

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May 13, 2006

There are fresh calls for consumers to handle chicken properly following a new report which has found nearly all the raw meat sold over the counter carries campylobacter.

The bacteria is one of the most common causes of food poisoning.

Commissioned by the Food Safety Authority, the report indicates that more than 90% of the raw chicken we buy could be contaminated with campylobactor.

But we're also at risk from other raw meats.

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May 11, 2006
Dayton Daily News (Ohio)
Laura A. Bischoff

COLUMBUS -- The debate about milk unpasteurized, straight from the cow reached state lawmakers Wednesday.

A bill pending in the House Agriculture Committee would allow licensed farmers to sell raw milk directly to consumers.

Bill advocates packed a Statehouse hearing room and sang the praises of raw milk.

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May 5, 2006
University of Arkansas, Food Safety Consortium via Newswise

Scientists who look for ways to eliminate foodborne pathogens are up against another obstacle: those pathogens that resist antibiotics. In particular, they want to single out the resistant bacteria for special attention and get rid of them.

That's the focus occupying Ramakrishna Nannapaneni, a Food Safety Consortium researcher in the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture food science department working with Michael Johnson. His team is trying to quantify Campylobacter, a pathogen that contaminates nearly all retail raw broiler chicken carcasses, and its emerging ability to resist an important fluoroquinolone antibiotic known as ciprofloxacin.

Surveys have shown that broilers frequently carry large numbers of Campylobacter in their intestinal contents that spread during further processing onto retail raw products. Campylobacter also can occur in raw milk and water and on raw fruits and vegetables. Proper cooking recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will completely kill Campylobacter present on raw poultry.

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May 2006
Journal of Food Protection, Volume 69, Number 5 pp. 1024-1027(4)
Gharst, Greg; Hanson, Dana; Kathariou, S.

Abstract:
Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli are leading bacterial causes of human gastroenteritis in the United States and other industrialized nations. These organisms frequently colonize avian hosts, including commercial poultry, but are also found in the gastrointestinal tract of other warm-blooded animals, including swine, sheep, and cattle. This study investigated the effect of direct culture versus selective enrichment on the isolation of thermophilic Campylobacter from the colon of 610 cattle. Fecal samples were taken from the colon of mature cattle (older than 30 months of age) immediately after slaughter in a commercial abattoir over a period of 17 months. Campylobacter was isolated from 23.4% of the animals. Most (93%) of the culture-confirmed Campylobacter isolates were C. jejuni, with the remaining 7% being C. coli. Additionally, of the 143 samples from which pure cultures of Campylobacter could be isolated, 72 (50.3%) were positive only with selective enrichment, 18 (12.6%) were positive only with direct plating, and 53 (37.1%) were positive by both methods. The data suggest that, even though selective enrichment was more effective than direct plating, both direct plating and selective enrichment protocols might need to be employed for optimal surveillance of C. jejuni in fecal material from cattle.

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By Los Angeles Times
Tuesday, May 2, 2006 10:44 AM EDT

Avoiding the use of antibiotics in food animals appears to reduce drug resistance in humans, according to a study published online recently in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The study involved the use of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones in Australian poultry.

Australia restricts use of the antibiotics in animal husbandry because the practice is thought to contribute to drug resistance in people who contract bacterial infections from eating contaminated food.

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May 3, 2006
Stuff (New Zealand)
Nikki MacDonald

Public health experts are taking up their magnifying glasses, looking for clues to explain why New Zealand has the highest campylobacter rates in the world.

Notified cases of the nasty stomach bug increased again last year, after a brief drop in 2004, Environmental Science and Research's 2005 notifiable diseases annual report shows.

Case numbers have risen by 75 per cent in the past five years, from about 8000 to almost 14,000 last year. New Zealand's rates are the highest in the developed world, and Wellington rates are consistently some of the highest in the country.

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28/04/2006 17:08:00
Poultry World

Are happy chickens safe chickens? One researcher believes so, outlining a possible role of bird stress on the number of campylobacter positive flocks.

Speaking at the recent 2006 World Poultry Science Association meeting in York, Tom Humphrey of the University of Bristol revealed new results that show the incidence of campylobacter had fallen from 76% in 1993 to 20% in 2005.

Prof Humphrey believes this reduction is mainly through attention to detail and improved biosecurity, but many questions remain, including why does it peak in summer?

The reason for the peak is unclear and Prof Humphrey questioned whether it was due to stress of higher temperatures or greater airflow bringing more infected flies into the shed.

He then outlined evidence that increased stress gives the pathogen a helping hand in infecting the bird, including Irish research showing a six-fold increase in campylobacter in chickens after transport to the abattoir.

For the full article, see the new relaunched Poultry World.

Author: Richard Allison

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April 26, 2006
Washington Post
Bonnie S. Benwick

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which for decades had recommended that poultry be cooked to an internal temperature of 180 degrees for safe eating, has reevaluated that assessment.

Earlier this month, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service established 165 degrees as the single safe minimum internal temperature to kill food-borne pathogens and viruses in poultry.

The months of commissioned study and testing by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods were not prompted by reports of overcooked white meat but by reported outbreaks of Salmonella bacteria that were traced to partially cooked, frozen poultry products.

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Wed 19 Apr 2006 05:39 PM CST
VIRGINIA (myDNA News)

Australia's policy of restricting antibiotic use in food-producing animals may be linked with lower levels of drug-resistant bacteria found in its citizens, according to an article in the May 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is a leading bacterial cause of foodborne illness in industrialized countries. Drug resistance can make Campylobacter infections difficult for physicians to treat, and can result in longer bouts of diarrhea and a higher risk of serious or even fatal illness. Bacterial resistance to drugs is generally attributed to inappropriate prescribing or overuse of antibiotics.

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By Ben Wasserman
Apr 17, 2006, 23:17

April 17 (foodconsumer.org) - Overuse of antibiotics in men or animals is attributed to the ever-increasing bacterial drug resistance. A new Australian study has linked less antibiotic use in animals with low levels of drug-resistant bacteria in humans.

The study, published in the May 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, was to examine whether less use of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones would lower the bacterial drug resistance in humans. In Australia, the government has banned use of the antibiotic in poultry.

In the study of 585 patients from five Australian states, Australian researchers examined drug resistance of Campylobacter jejuni, a leading bacterial cause of foodborne illness in industrialized countries, in the study patients. None of the patients had received fluoroquinolone within the month prior to becoming ill.

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Source: scenta
Date Published: April 18, 2006

An Australian policy restricting the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals may be linked with the lower levels of drug-resistant bacteria found in its population, scientists now suggest.

Campylobacter jejuni is a leading bacterial cause of food-borne illness in industrialised countries.

Drug resistance can make Campylobacter infections difficult for physicians to treat, and can result in longer bouts of diarrhoea and a higher risk of serious or even fatal illness.

Individuals who showed a bacterial resistance to curative drugs generally were found to be susceptible to inappropriate prescribing or to overuse antibiotics.

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Posted on: 04/17/2006

Australia 's policy of restricting antibiotic use in food-producing animals may be linked with lower levels of drug-resistant bacteria found in its citizens, according to an article in the May 15, 2006 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

Campylobacter jejuni is a leading bacterial cause of foodborne illness in industrialized countries. Drug resistance can make Campylobacter infections difficult for physicians to treat, and can result in longer bouts of diarrhea and a higher risk of serious or even fatal illness. Bacterial resistance to drugs is generally attributed to inappropriate prescribing or overuse of antibiotics.

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April 2006
Journal of Food Protection, Volume 69, Number 4, April 2006, pp. 932-934(3)
Andersen, Sigrid Rita et al

Abstract:
The occurrence of metronidazole resistance was investigated among Campylobacter jejuni in raw poultry meat collected from supermarkets. MICs were determined by the agar dilution procedure in the testing range of 3 to 60 μg/ml metronidazole. The MICs showed a bimodal distribution with a significant proportion of metronidazole-resistant isolates among C. jejuni from raw broiler and turkey meat. Metronidazole resistance occurred most frequently among turkey meat isolates (P < 0.005). This is the first report of foodborne bacteria carrying metronidazole resistance.

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April 2006
Journal of Food Protection, Volume 69, Number 4, April 2006, pp. 928-931(4)
Meldrum, R.J. et al

Abstract:
A 36-month study of Campylobacter and Salmonella in retail raw whole chicken was carried out to measure baseline rates at the retail level, establish seasonality, and observe changes in rates over time. In total, 2,228 samples were taken between November 2001 and December 2004. The Campylobacter rate was unchanged over the 3 years of the study, but the Salmonella rates declined significantly between 2001 and 2004. There was also some seasonality in Campylobacter rates in fresh samples. The overall conclusion from the study was that the Salmonella rate in raw chicken available to consumers in Wales fell significantly between 2001 and 2004, while the Campylobacter rate remained unchanged and is still by far the greater problem.

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April 2006
Journal of Food Protection, Volume 69, Number 4, pp. 768-774(7)
Zheng, Jie et al

Abstract:
The abilities of 34 Campylobacter jejuni and 9 Campylobacter coli isolates recovered from retail meats to adhere to and invade human intestinal epithelial T84 cells were examined and compared with those of a well-characterized human clinical strain, C. jejuni 81-176, to better assess the pathogenic potential of these meat isolates. The meat isolates exhibited a wide range of adherence and invasion abilities; a few of the isolates adhered to and invaded T84 cells almost as well as did C. jejuni 81-176. There was a significant correlation between the adherence ability and the invasion ability of the Campylobacter isolates. The presence of eight putative virulence genes in these Campylobacter isolates that are potentially responsible for adherence and invasion or that encode cytolethal distending toxin was determined using PCR. All Campylobacter isolates possessed flaA, cadF, pldA, cdtA, cdtB, and cdtC, and most (91%) also contained the ciaB gene. However, the virB11 gene, carried by virulence plasmid pVir, was absent in almost all the Campylobacter isolates. Our findings indicated that C. jejuni and C. coli present in retail meat were diverse in their ability to adhere to and invade human intestinal epithelial cells and that the putative virulence genes were widespread among the Campylobacter isolates. Thus, despite of the presence of the putative virulence genes, only some but not all Campylobacter strains isolated from retail meat can effectively invade human intestinal epithelial cells in vitro.

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April 2006
Journal of Food Protection, Volume 69, Number 4, pp. 762-767(6)
Zhao, Tong and Doyle, Michael P.

Abstract:
Eight chemicals, including glycerol monolaurate, hydrogen peroxide, acetic acid, lactic acid, sodium benzoate, sodium chlorate, sodium carbonate, and sodium hydroxide, were tested individually or in combination for their ability to inactivate Campylobacter jejuni at 4 degrees C in suspension. Results showed that treatment for up to 20 min with 0.01% glycerol monolaurate, 0.1% sodium benzoate, 50 or 100 mM sodium chlorate, or 1% lactic acid did not substantially (<0.5 log CFU/ml) reduce C. jejuni populations but that 0.1 and 0.2% hydrogen peroxide for 20 min reduced C. jejuni populations by ca. 2.0 and 4.5 log CFU/ml, respectively. By contrast, treatments with 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0% acetic acid, 25, 50, and 100 mM sodium carbonate, and 0.05 and 0.1 N sodium hydroxide reduced C. jejuni populations by 5 log CFU/ml within 2 min. A combination of 0.5% acetic acid plus 0.05% potassium sorbate or 0.5% acetic acid plus 0.05% sodium benzoate reduced C. jejuni populations by 5 log CFU/ml within 1 min; however, substituting 0.5% lactic acid for 0.5% acetic acid was not effective, with a reduction of C. jejuni of 0.5 log CFU/ml. A combination of acidic calcium sulfate, lactic acid, ethanol, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and polypropylene glycol (ACS-LA) also reduced C. jejuni in suspension by 5 log CFU/ml within 1 min. All chemicals or chemical combinations for which there was a 5-log/ml reduction of C. jejuni in suspension were further evaluated for C. jejuni inactivation on chicken wings. Treatments at 4 degrees C of 2% acetic acid, 100 mM sodium carbonate, or 0.1 N sodium hydroxide for up to 45 s reduced C. jejuni populations by ca. 1.4, 1.6, or 3.5 log CFU/g, respectively. Treatment with ACSLA at 4 degrees C for 15 s reduced C. jejuni by 5 log CFU/g to an undetectable level. The ACS-LA treatment was highly effective in chilled water at killing C. jejuni on chicken and, if recycled, may be a useful treatment in chill water tanks for poultry processors to reduce campylobacters on poultry skin after slaughter.

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April 2006
Journal of Food Protection, Volume 69, Number 4, pp. 757-761(5)
Scherer, Kathrin et al

Abstract:
The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and numbers of Campylobacter on the skin and in the muscle of chicken legs at retail to examine the external and internal contamination for an exposure assessment. Furthermore, the study assessed seasonal influence on Campylobacter contamination in chicken legs. Of the 140 examined skin samples, 66% were positive, and the internal contamination of 115 sampled chicken legs was 27%. The enumeration of Campylobacter on the surface of positive chicken legs revealed a median of 2.4 log CFU/g of skin, and the quantification of Campylobacter in the muscle gave results mainly under the detection limit of the most-probable-number method (<0.3 MPN Campylobacter per g). The external contamination was significantly higher than the internal. In both skin and muscle samples, Campylobacter jejuni had a much higher incidence than Campylobacter coli. However, with regard to the specification of Campylobacter on the surface of chicken legs, C. coli was isolated at higher colony counts than C. jejuni. During the 1-year study, two peaks of Campylobacter contamination occurred, one in the early springtime (February and March, 100 and 90%, respectively) and the second during the warmer months in the summer (July and August, both 90%). Furthermore, a positive correlation between prevalence and numbers of Campylobacter on chicken legs was observed.

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April 2006
Journal of Food Protection, Volume 69, Number 4, pp. 729-738(10)
Ahlborn, Gene; Sheldon, Brian W.

Abstract:
The biological activity (D-value determination) of eggshell membrane (ESM) was examined to determine the membrane components and mechanisms responsible for antibacterial activity. Biological and enzymatic activities (i.e., β-N-acetylglucosaminidase [β-NAGase], lysozyme, and ovotransferrin) of ESM denatured with trypsin, lipases, or heat were compared with those of untreated ESM. Trypsin-treated ESM lost all biological activity (D-values at 54 degrees C were 5.12 and 5.38 min for immobilized and solubilized trypsin, respectively) but showed no significant loss of enzymatic activities. Treatments with porcine lipase and a lipase cocktail did not impact biological or enzymatic activities. Heat denaturation of ESM (at 80 and 100 degrees C for 15 min) resulted in significant decreases in biological activity (D-values of 3.99 and 4.43 min, respectively) and loss of β-NAGase activity. Lysozyme and ovotransferrin activities remained but were significantly reduced. Purified ESM and hen egg white components (i.e., β-NAGase, lysozyme, and ovotransferrin) were added to Salmonella Typhimurium suspensions (in 0.1% peptone water) at varying concentrations to evaluate their biological activity. D-values at 54 degrees C were 4.50 and 3.68 min for treatment with lysozyme or β-NAGase alone, respectively, and 2.44 min for ovotransferrin but 1.47 min for a combination of all three components (similar to values for ESM). Exposure of Salmonella Typhimurium cells to a mixture of ovotransferrin, lysozyme, and β-NAGase or ESM resulted in significant increases in extracellular concentrations of Ca2+, Mg2+, and K+. Transmission electron microscopic examination of Salmonella Typhimurium cells treated with a combination of ovotransferrin, lysozyme, and β-NAGase revealed membrane disruption and cell lysis. The findings of this study demonstrate that ovotransferrin, lysozyme, and β-NAGase are the primary components responsible for ESM antibacterial activity. The combination of these proteins and perhaps other ESM components interferes with interactions between bacterial lipopolysaccharides, sensitizing the outer bacterial membrane to the lethal affects of heat and possibly pressure and osmotic stressors.

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April 12, 2006
Akron Beacon-Journal (OH)

Hard-cooked eggs in the shell once were considered so safe and bacteria-free that kids stored them in their Easter baskets and moms displayed them in a nest of plastic grass on the dining room buffet.

No more. We now know hard-cooked eggs should be handled as carefully as raw poultry. They should be stored in the refrigerator and left at room temperature for no longer than two hours max, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Scientists have found that high-protein foods such as eggs are perfect breeding grounds for bacteria when left at room temperature. Further prompting the push for egg safety was a new type of salmonella bacteria that started showing up in some raw in-shell eggs in the 1980s. The bacteria, salmonella enteritidis, was transferred directly from the hens to the eggs. The discovery resulted in a government recommendation to thoroughly cook eggs and to keep raw and cooked eggs chilled.

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April 6, 2006
Scripps Howard News Service
Lance Gay

America's disease detectives credit pasteurization of milk as one of the great health advances of the 20th century. But drinkers of raw milk argue the heating process that destroys dangerous pathogens also kills beneficial nutrients and vitamins.

Advocates are accelerating their lobbying in some of the 23 states that ban sales of un-pasteurized milk, arguing that it's no more dangerous than raw meat or un-pasteurized fruit juice. Encouraging dairy farmers to sell un-pasteurized milk at the farm gate will save small farms that are losing their milk markets, they say.

"Technology is destroying nature's perfect food,'' said Sally Fallon, head of the Weston A. Price Foundation in Washington, who argues Americans would be healthier returning to drinking raw milk. The foundation is spearheading a drive to make raw milk more available.

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5 April 2006

One of the most harmful bugs in the food chain is using tiny microbes as 'Trojan Horses' to shield itself from attack -- and the result can be a serious case of food poisoning, according to University of Ulster research presented today.

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April 5, 2006
Food Safety Web Specialists
Food Safety and Inspection Service

WASHINGTON -- The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today advised consumers that cooking raw poultry to a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees F will eliminate pathogens and viruses.

The single minimum internal temperature requirement of 165 degrees F was recommended by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF).

"The Committee was asked to determine a single minimum temperature for poultry at which consumers can be confident that pathogens and viruses will be destroyed," said Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Richard Raymond. "The recommendation is based on the best scientific data available and will serve as a foundation for our programs designed to reduce foodborne illness and protect public health."

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April 5, 2006
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A bill that would have allowed raw, unpasteurized milk sales in Tennessee was bottled up in a House committee on Tuesday.

Opponents were concerned that without pasteurization, raw milk has a potential to be laced with listeria, E. coli or salmonella, but bill sponsor Rep. Glen Casada said consumers run the risk of contracting illnesses from any food.

"That's just the nature of food," the College Grove Republican said. "I contend it's a consumers right to buy food they think is healthy for them and their family."

Listeria, E. coli and Salmonella can result in gastrointestinal illness and, in the worst cases, kidney failure or death.

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April 2, 2006
Press Release Newswire

Chicken is one of the most versatile and economical main dishes for people looking for nutritious and easy-to-fix meals. But if not stored, cooked and cleaned correctly, chicken can cause food poisoning and other food-borne illnesses.

Little Rock -- "Chicken? Again?" That's probably one of the most common laments heard over and over at dinnertime in homes throughout Arkansas.

Chicken is one of the most versatile and economical main dishes for people looking for nutritious and easy-to-fix meals. But if not stored, cooked and cleaned correctly, chicken can cause food poisoning and other food-borne illnesses.

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April 2, 2006
Press Release Newswire

Chicken is one of the most versatile and economical main dishes for people looking for nutritious and easy-to-fix meals. But if not stored, cooked and cleaned correctly, chicken can cause food poisoning and other food-borne illnesses.

Little Rock -- "Chicken? Again?" That's probably one of the most common laments heard over and over at dinnertime in homes throughout Arkansas.

Chicken is one of the most versatile and economical main dishes for people looking for nutritious and easy-to-fix meals. But if not stored, cooked and cleaned correctly, chicken can cause food poisoning and other food-borne illnesses.

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April 2, 2006
Knoxnews News Sentinel (TN)
The Associated Press
Erik Schelzig

FRANKLIN, Tenn. - A proposal to allow raw milk sales in Tennessee could put dairy consumers at risk, opponents of a measure moving through the Legislature said Friday.

Supporters say pasteurization's scalding heat destroys the taste and nutrients. But Bill Mason, executive director of consumer watchdog group Tennessee Citizen Action, calls those claims "anecdotal."

"There's just no scientific connection between drinking raw milk and any benefits," said Mason.

Yet interest in raw, unpasteurized milk has been on the rise nationwide, part of a growing natural foods movement. And similar measures have been approved in more than 20 other states, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Glen Casada.

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March 30, 2006
Yakima Herald-Republic
Jessica Wambach

Since the first of the year, the Yakima Health District has seen a spike in the number of cases of a bacterial infection that causes stomach sickness.

Many of the 41 cases of campylobacteriosis so far this year might be tied to the consumption of unpasteurized milk and related cheese products, said Marianne Patnode, Communicable Disease Services coordinator at the health district.

By this time last year, only 21 people had reported having the bacterial illness characterized by diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever. Symptoms usually appear within two to five days of exposure to the organism and usually last about one week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In very rare cases it can be life-threatening, but it is not transmittable from person to person.

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March 14, 2006
The Daily News
Barbara LaBoe

It's illegal to sell unpasteurized milk without a license in Washington, but Longview residents need only cross the Lewis and Clark Bridge to get raw milk in Oregon, where no license is required for small farms.

That could soon change, though, as Oregon officials review their laws in light of a December E. coli outbreak at a raw milk farm in Woodland.

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March 15, 2006
Daily Record.com
Matt Tullis

MILLERSBURG - A Holmes County dairy farmer may get his milk producer's license back after having it revoked for a $2 sale of raw milk in an unlabeled container.

Arlie Stutzman said representatives from the Ohio Department of Agriculture showed up at his farm Tuesday morning with paperwork he must fill out to have his license reinstated. His license, which allowed him to sell milk to cheese manufacturers, was revoked by the ODA on Feb. 8 because he sold milk in an unlabeled container to an undercover investigator.

Stutzman said he was surprised when the ODA showed up, but noted it might have been a little too late. He rented nine of his 36 cows to another dairy farmer last week to produce some income.

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March 12, 2006
Flint Journal
James L. Smith

In a world with grocery stores in nearly every community, it's hard to imagine that some people drive nearly three hours a week to obtain dairy products.

But farmer Chuck Oliver's customers do just that.

Oliver, who battled the Michigan Department of Agriculture over the right to sell raw milk on his farm, has tripled his customer base in the last six months to about 300, with just word-of-mouth advertising.

And at least for now, he has made peace with state agriculture regulators.

Oliver's milk is straight from the cow, without pasteurization. Pasteurized milk, the type purchased in stores, is heated to kill bacteria, then bottled and cooled.

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3/13/2006 9:00:00 PM
Mel Robertson
Lifestyle Editor/Reporter

State and county officials continue to investigate a bacterial outbreak at New Richmond.

"The only thing we know is we had an outbreak," Montgomery County Sanitarian Ron Posthauer said. "Nothing's been confirmed yet. There may be evidence to point in certain directions but it's not responsible to speculate."

In February, the town of New Richmond suffered from an outbreak of campylobacteriosis. More than two cases is considered an outbreak, Posthauer said.

Campylobacteriosis is an infectious bacterial disease, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention Web site, www.cdc.gov. Symptoms of the infection include diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever within two to five days of being infected, the CDC Web site states. Symptoms typically last about a week.

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Associated Press

Proponents of drinking raw milk say it's full of vitamins and soothes asthma and other ailments, but only farmers who own their own cows can drink the unpasteurized white beverage in Ohio.

So raw milk fans have turned to "herd share" agreements that allow them to buy portions of a farmer's herd and get dairy products.

Now the Ohio Department of Agriculture is investigating these arrangements, which an agriculture official says appear to take advantage of a legal loophole.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ohio Department of Health

Selling and Shipping Raw Dairy Products into Ohio is Illegal

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio (March 1, 2006) -- Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Fred L. Dailey is cautioning consumers to avoid falling prey to direct or deceptive online sales of unpasteurized raw milk products, which are not allowed to be sold or offered for sale in Ohio.

"I strongly urge consumers to drink only milk that has been properly pasteurized at a licensed and inspected facility," said Dailey. "You could be putting yourself or your family at risk by consuming raw milk."

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27/02/2006- The public's understanding of food risk issues is skewed towards under estimating the danger from common pathogen contamination, according to a research survey.

The survey results could help companies and experts develop communication strategies aimed at ensuring the public understands the various risks posed by food borne diseases and hazards.

The survey researchers concluded that food safety experts have a key role in communicating food risk and thus their perceptions will influence how food risk issues are communicated to the public.

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Sometimes a solution to a problem can be both easy and difficult, particularly when dealing with foodborne disease. When food is properly cooked and handled, bacterial contamination is not usually an issue. But mistakes can be made, and contaminated foods may accidentally be consumed.

One foodborne pathogen of particular interest is Campylobacter, which may cause mild to severe diarrhea and fever in humans and possibly result in a secondary, neurological condition known as Guillain-BarrÈ Syndrome. Campylobacter is commonly found in the intestinal tracts of swine, cattle, and poultry. It may be deposited onto trucks, trailers, and coops when the animals are transported to processing plants.

"For poultry, washing transport cages with water and disinfectant can certainly reduce the level of Campylobacter, but it isn't very reliable and doesn't completely eliminate the microbe," says microbiologist Mark Berrang, who is in the Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Research Unit in Athens, Georgia. He and food technologist Julie Northcutt, of the Poultry Processing Research Unit, evaluated the role of transport coops and carcass defeathering as critical points in Campylobacter contamination of broilers and broiler carcasses.

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February 11, 2006
The Clarion-Ledger
Jack Sunn

Q: Jack, I've been trying to find someone in the metro area who sells milk directly from a cow; for example, a local dairy farm that will sell directly to the consumer or someone who raises cows. Can you help me? - Lactose Free

A: The Mississippi Department of Health doesn't allow the sale of raw milk in this state. "It's against the law," said Bill Herndon, an agricultural extension service economist at Mississippi State University. "People who like to drink raw milk think that pasteurization makes the milk bad or lowers the quality. All that does is kill the bugs."

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February 2, 2006
safefood Press Release
www.safefoodonline.com

Recent research, funded by safefood, has indicated a high occurrence of the food poisoning bacterium, Campylobacter in raw poultry, particularly chicken, with 49.9% of retail samples of raw chicken testing positive for the bacterium.

Speaking about the project, Dr Paul Whyte from UCD, lead Researcher, said 'The study was carried out to provide all island public health data on Campylobacter. Our research showed that a high proportion of human Campylobacter cases are linked with the handling and consumption of contaminated foodstuffs of animal origin, particularly poultry.

Campylobacter is a common cause of bacterial foodborne infection in many countries including the island of Ireland. Scientists have detected the pathogen in raw poultry produced worldwide'.

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January 28, 2006
The Tribune (Arizona)
Emily Gersema

Violations included handling food with bare hands, improperly storing food, reusing dirty slicers and choppers, no paper towels at the sink, workers eating in the food service area, dirty aprons, dirty work areas.

Warned on three occasions to fix problems or face penalties.

In the last three years, one of the Valley's most popular restaurant chains has been cited for more than three dozen major health violations at its four locations, and a lawsuit alleges that undercooked chicken at one franchise sickened a customer so severely he was temporarily paralyzed.

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January 25, 2006
Daily Times-Call
Kate Martin

FORT COLLINS -- Lugene Sas, owner of Taft Hill Dairy, said Tuesday that his dairy is the one that the state pinpointed as allegedly sickening 27 people.

Tuesday, a dozen raw-milk supporters gathered in the parking lot of Taft Hill Dairy, located four miles north of County Road 54G on Taft Hill Road near Fort Collins.

Ray Norden, 74, said he's been drinking raw milk for more than 70 years. He said health officials think he had the bacteria in his system, but he said he doubts it.

Rebecca Woodbury of Fort Collins also doubted the test results.

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Jan 25, 2006
North Texas E-news
Martha Filipic, The Ohio State University

Where can I find a listing of fats (saturated, unsaturated, etc.) in raw cow's milk?

Unfortunately, you can't be certain what type of fat is in raw cow's milk -- it all depends on the cow and its diet. And since, by definition, raw cow's milk undergoes no processing, it wouldn't be standardized in any way.

However, the issue of the type of fat in raw cow's milk is overshadowed by the safety risks of drinking it. In fact, in December 2005 in southwestern Washington state, at least 18 people, including 15 children under age 13, became ill from raw milk contaminated by E. coli O157:H7. Several children were hospitalized in critical condition, and may suffer from long-term kidney problems.

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Larimer dairy implicated

By Kate Martin
The Daily Reporter-Herald

FORT COLLINS -- At least five people got sick after drinking raw milk from a Larimer County dairy in late December or early January.

Larimer County Health and Environment officials are investigating the cases, said Dr. Adrienne LeBailly, director of the department.

Kim Meyer-Lee, a regional epidemiologist, said five people reported laboratory-confirmed cases of campylobacteriosis from Jan. 4 through Jan. 9. The county also found other suspected cases, said LeBailly.

Campylobacteriosis is an infection caused by ingesting the Campylobacter bacterium, said Meyer-Lee. Symptoms are diarrhea, cramping, fevers, vomiting, headaches, body aches and chills.

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By CURT WOODWARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- On the Kozak farm, it only takes a few minutes for milk to get from Iris the cow's udder to the bottles that will be picked up by her co-owners.

For the farmers and the milk drinkers, the arrangement is perfectly simple - everyone knows where the milk comes from, and gets it with a minimum of human meddling.

"It's not the anonymous milk on the shelf and the anonymous buyer," said Linda Kozak of Vashon Island, whose family distributes the dairy products. "It's really more of a closed system, and it's more natural."

That simple system, however, is turning into a big problem for the raw milk producers targeted by bills being considered at the 2006 Legislature.

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Press Release by: Suffolk First
Published on openPR 01-09-2006

What Is Reactive Arthritis?

Reactive arthritis is a form of arthritis, or joint inflammation, that occurs as a "reaction" to an infection elsewhere in the body. Inflammation is a characteristic reaction of tissues to injury or disease and is marked by swelling, redness, heat, and pain. Besides this joint inflammation, reactive arthritis is associated with two other symptoms: redness and inflammation of the eyes (conjunctivitis) and inflammation of the urinary tract (urethritis). These symptoms may occur alone, together, or not at all.

Reactive arthritis is also known as Reiter's syndrome, and your doctor may refer to it by yet another term, as a seronegative spondyloarthropathy. The seronegative spondyloarthropathies are a group of disorders that can cause inflammation throughout the body, especially in the spine. (Examples of other disorders in this group include psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and the kind of arthritis that sometimes accompanies inflammatory bowel disease.)

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January 2006
Journal of Food Protection, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 22-26(5)
Larkin, C. et al

Abstract:
Campylobacter jejuni is one of the most common causes of bacterial foodborne infection in the United States, and there are reports of resistance of Campylobacter spp. to antimicrobial agents used for the treatment of gastroenteritis. The purpose of this study was to determine the antimicrobial resistance patterns of Campylobacter spp. isolated from hog, beef, and chicken carcasses from provincially inspected abattoirs in Ontario. The agar dilution method was performed to measure antimicrobial resistance of the isolates. Antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter isolates from hogs (n = 401), beef (n = 21), and chicken (n = 435) to ampicillin, azithromycin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, nalidixic acid, streptomycin, and tetracycline was determined. Resistance of chicken, hog, and beef isolates was 14.3, 18.2, and 9.5% to ampicillin; 17.9, 67.3, and 38.1% to azithromycin; 0, 0.5, and 0% to chloramphenicol; 3.7, 1.2, and 0% to ciprofloxacin; 2.3, 46.6, and 4.8% to clindamycin; 6.7, 43.6, and 4.8% to erythromycin; 0.2, 0, and 0% to gentamicin; 5.1, 10.7, and 0% to nalidixic acid; 13.6, 57.4, and 4.8% to streptomycin; and 52.6, 44.1, 42.9% to tetracycline, respectively. The hog isolates had the greatest resistance to seven of the ten antimicrobials tested. Results of this study confirm the existence of antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter to various antimicrobial agents, especially ciprofloxacin and erythromycin, commonly used for treatment of campylobacteriosis in humans.

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January 3, 2006
FoodProductionDaily.com
Ahmed ElAmin

A general increase in reported cases of Campylobacteriosis over the last few years in the EU's fifteen original member states indicates that food companies need to step up their safety procedures against the disease.

The statistics are in the European Commission's first report on the persistence in the EU of a range of zoonoses, foodborne diseases that are transmissible from animals to humans.

The report takes the pulse on the state of food safety in the EU, even as the bloc begins implementing tougher hygiene laws aimed at reducing outbreaks of diseases caused by contaminated products.

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Saturday, December 31, 2005
By DEAN BAKER, Columbian staff writer

FERN PRAIRIE - Lorrie Conway tugged on the udder of 3-year-old Vashon, one of her 18 Nubian goats, and squirted her milk into a stainless steel bucket at Conway Family Farm near Livingston Mountain.

Conway, 40, runs one of only seven Washington dairies licensed to sell raw milk. As she worked, she reflected on how Washington Department of Agriculture inspectors have helped her since she got her license four months ago to sell milk raw, or milk without pasteurization.

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December 29, 2005
Boca Raton News
John Johnston

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it," said philosopher George Santayana.

Boca Raton Pediatrician Dr. Adam Cutler agrees, saying that if any local parents choose to go outside of established health protocols "then they're taking risks into their own hands."

Health care officials, and even some local people who were alive in early part of the 20th century will of course remember when it was the norm to obtain, store and then consume whole milk without it ever becoming any warmer than what it was before leaving the cow.

Louis Pasteur discovered in the 1860's that microorganisms in wine, beer and milk caused illness; in turn, he discovered that heating those fluids to about 132 degrees Fahrenheit would kill those organisms.

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Following an E. coli outbreak in the state of Washington, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) is joining with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to warn the public against drinking raw milk.

Topeka, KS - infoZine - Raw milk is not treated or pasteurized to remove disease-causing bacteria and may cause life-threatening illness. There is also a potential risk of getting rabies from drinking raw milk.

Eight cases of illness have been reported in Washington state to date associated with raw milk containing E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. Several of these cases were in children. Two of the children remain hospitalized. Health authorities have identified locally (Washington) sold raw milk as a source of the outbreak, and have ordered an unlicensed dairy to shut down.

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December 21, 2005
Andy Patrick
AgInfo.netZ

One of the more significant selling points of the segment of agriculture that is dubbed organic, self-sustaining, even alternative, to the consumer is that it claims to offer a more healthy product than goods produced through conventional growing and processing means. But a recent incident in Southwest Washington and one county in Oregon may serve as a warning to consumers that just because a product labels itself as more healthy than its conventional counterpart doesn't necessarily make it gospel truth.

If one were to go to www.localharvest.org, a site that promotes small, sustainable, and organic based agriculture operations across America, and look up "Dee Creek Farm", the following description of the Woodland Washington based operation provided as of January of this year reads like this ... "Our goal is to build an ecologically responsible and self-sustaining farm, using natural methods and humane practices. We are pleased to offer our quality products and services to those who desire an "alternative for a more healthy lifestyle."

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December 21, 2005
Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My right knee and the fingers on my right hand suddenly swelled and became painful. My family doctor didn't know what I had and sent me to an arthritis specialist. He asked if I had been sick in the past month. I had. I had diarrhea for about one week. After a series of tests, he said I had reactive arthritis. Reactive to what? Can you throw some light on this? -- P.Z.

ANSWER: Reactive arthritis is joint swelling with severe joint pain that is a ''reaction'' to a previous infection. The infection is often an intestinal infection usually producing diarrhea. Or it might be an infection of the urethra, the bladder's emptying tube. It causes painful urination. Germs involved in this infection include the common diarrhea-producing germs -- salmonella, Shigella and Campylobacter. The urethral infection is most often due to the chlamydia germ.

Anywhere from one week to a month after the initial infection, joint symptoms set in. The knee, ankle, foot, toes, wrist and fingers are the usual targets. The fingers take on the appearance of stuffed sausages.

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Outbreak - Despite bacterial illnesses blamed on the lack of pasteurization, raw milk has an unwavering following

Sunday, December 18, 2005
DON COLBURN
The Oregonian

The arguments get so passionate, it's hard to remember that both sides are talking about the same iconic glass of milk.

Pasteurization of milk -- a quick blast of heat to kill potentially deadly bacteria -- has been one of the no-brainers of public health for nearly a century. Health officials say it makes milk safe and delays spoilage without markedly reducing the drink's nutritional value.

A small but vocal minority of raw milk fans aren't buying.

"I consider raw milk medicine for me and my family," says Juanita Stiles, 66, of Vancouver. "I believe in fresh, raw anything over changed, dead, chemically contaminated and synthetic foods." She also opposes vaccinations against childhood diseases and avoids medical doctors.

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Author: Vanessa Fultz, Democrat Reporter
Publication Date: 2005-12-09

Local farmers are going to Representative Dwight Stansel to try to amend regulations for selling raw cow's milk. Stansel is holding a public meeting on the issue Dec. 12 at 10:30 a.m. at Live Oak City Hall.

Owner of Full Circle Farms Dennis Stoltzfoos said dairy inspectors from each state held a national conference call about eight months ago expressing concerns about the selling of raw milk, and since then many inspectors have taken action against small farmers.

The Department of Agriculture holds to USDA and FDA regulations, saying the consumption of raw milk can transmit bacteria that can be dangerous or even fatal. The Department claims the consumption of raw milk can result in listeria, E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter pathogens, resulting in the risks of gastrointestinal illnesses.

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By NATHAN CRABBE
Gainesville Sun staff writer
December 03. 2005

LIVE OAK - Aase Duerkes said she couldn't get out of bed some mornings before she started drinking raw milk.

The 59-year-old Leesburg resident credits a diet of unpasteurized milk and other unprocessed foods for curing the fibromyalgia that caused her entire left side to ache. She makes a nearly three-hour trek here to buy such products, undaunted by the state's declaration that raw milk should only be given to pets.

"I feel tons better," she said.

She's part of a growing movement that says pasteurization and other processing saps milk of taste and nutrition. But state regulators say unpasteurized milk threatens the health of consumers and have taken action against Live Oak farmer Dennis Stoltzfoos for touting its health benefits while selling it.

"People can be and have been sickened by raw milk," said Terry McElroy, spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture of Consumer Services. "It harbors a significant volume of dangerous bacteria."

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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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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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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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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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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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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

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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.

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By ALEX CUKAN
October 20, 2005

More than 10 percent of all food-poisoning incidents in the United States occur in schools -- a danger because food-borne illness in children, as in the elderly, can be deadly.

In the late 1990s the federal government formed a special committee on the safety of food in schools, involving school nurses to serve a larger role in preventing and monitoring symptoms of food poisoning, said Elaine Brainerd, director of the Food-Safe Schools project for the American Nurses Foundation.

"In Rhode Island, about 10 years ago, a central kitchen had been preparing school lunches that were later transported to the local schools," Brainerd told UPI's Caregiving. "One day, they baked hams for the next day and one employee who apparently had a cold stayed late to peel the skins off the hams once they were cool enough to handle."

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10/17/2005

PNAS Online Early Edition

Scientists have traced the origins of Campylobacter jejuni, a food-borne microbe responsible for the majority of bacterial gastroenteritis cases worldwide.

Article #03252: "Comparative phylogenomics of the food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni reveals genetic markers predictive of infection source" by Olivia L. Champion, Michael W. Gaunt, Ozan Gundogdu, Abdi Elmi, Adam A. Witney, Jason Hinds, Nick Dorrell, and Brendan W. Wren

PNAS Online Early Edition Scientists have traced the origins of Campylobacter jejuni, a food-borne microbe responsible for the majority of bacterial gastroenteritis cases worldwide.

Article #03252: "Comparative phylogenomics of the food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni reveals genetic markers predictive of infection source" by Olivia L. Champion, Michael W. Gaunt, Ozan Gundogdu, Abdi Elmi, Adam A. Witney, Jason Hinds, Nick Dorrell, and Brendan W. Wren

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Baytril, an antibiotic drug used for treating respiratory illnesses in chickens, is the first veterinary drug to be recalled from the market by the FDA. The government organization pulled the drug from the market in late July 2005, because of concerns over the emergence of antibiotic resistant campylobacter outbreaks in humans.

Campylobacter is one of the most frequently occurring bacterial causes of diarrhea related sickness in the country. Most people who come down with the illness have days of diarrhea, cramping, pain, and fever. The symptoms take between 2 to 5 days after exposure to manifest. There have been several instances where campylobacter caused death. Campylobacter related sickness could take as long as a couple of weeks to recover from.

Some campylobacter infections may become a serious disease called Guillain-Barre syndrome. Guillain-Barre is a disease wherein a person's immune system attacks itself. The disease can lead to serious nerve damage and even paralysis.

The most common form of infection occurs when a person ingests infected chicken meat, especially meat that has not been properly or thoroughly cleaned or cooked. The bacteria form in the chicken's digestive tract and spread to the meat. Campylobacter is especially found in the liver. This form of infection is widespread in developing nations, especially those of the South Eastern Asia region.

Baytril is seen as being a cause of campylobacter infections spreading from the chicken to the person. The chickens usually manifest no symptoms of campylobacter when they are infected.

Baytril has been in use since 1996 as a way to treat infections in chicken populations. In 2000 the FDA took a look into negative effects that Baytril may have on the human population. That year the government organization proposed removing Baytril from the market due to concerns about rising cases of campylobacter in humans. Since Baytril has been on the market the campylobacter infection rate in humans has risen dramatically.

The FDA asked for a Baytril recall from its parent company Bayer, and also asked that another drug made by the pharmaceutical company Abbott be recalled as well. Abbott complied with the FDA's request. Bayer refused to take the drug off the market. The maker of Baytril staved off the drug's demise through a five-year legal battle that finally ended in July of 2005. The recall is currently scheduled to go into effect on September 12, 2005.

Baytril will remain in use as a disease fighting medication in other animals that do not pass on the bacterial disease to humans. If you or someone you know has been affected by a Baytril related disease or hardship contact an experienced attorney through this Web site for a free consultation.

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9/28/2005
BBC News

Kentucky Fried Chicken on Belfast's upper Newtownards Road has, according to this story, been fined £12,000 for selling undercooked food.

Its owners, Herbel Restaurants, were taken to court by the city council after a complaint by a customer. The court heard Herbal Restaurants has been prosecuted seven times in six years, with fines totalling £32,000. The council was quoted as saying, "The complaint was taken very seriously by the council as raw chicken is regularly contaminated with food poisoning bacteria."

A Belfast council spokesman was quoted as saying, "This type of food poisoning causes diarrhoea, fever, abdominal pain which can mimic acute appendicitis, and can last for up to a week.

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08 October 2005
By KAMALA HAYMAN

A Fear Factor-style contest that left two students suffering food poisoning after eating raw liver was held at Cashmere High School, it emerged yesterday.

On Thursday, Cashmere principal Dave Turnbull said he knew nothing about such a contest and condemned it as "utterly gross and appalling".

However, Turnbull phoned The Press yesterday to apologise and explain the two victims of campylobacter food poisoning were Cashmere students.

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10/7/2005- The urgent recall of certain pre-packaged Dole salad products has called into question the safety of a popular convenience product.

The warning, which follows a potential outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 in Minnesota, could significantly dent consumer confidence in a highly lucrative sector of the convenience food market.

Pre-washed salads, which can be eaten without further washing according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), encapsulate in many ways what modern consumers want; convenience, nutrition and safety. Unsurprisingly, sales topped $2.3 billion last year, according to market analyst ACNielsen.

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07 October 2005
By KAMALA HAYMAN

School pupils eating raw offal in Fear Factor-style contests are contributing to soaring rates of food poisoning in Christchurch.

More than 80 cases of campylobacter -- a disease causing severe abdominal pain and diarrhoea -- have been reported to health authorities in the past week, and 226 cases in the past month. This is double the monthly average for Canterbury.

The disease is most commonly associated with undercooked chicken but can also be contracted from beef and close contact with animals.

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Sep 26 2005
Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail

Last week was dominated by the growing E.coli O157 outbreak which hit schoolchildren across South Wales. As food-borne illnesses continue to affect millions every year, Health Editor Madeleine Brindley and the Food Standards Agency Wales present an instant guide to food poisoning

EVERY year it is estimated that one in 10 people will suffer from a bout of food poisoning as a result of eating food contaminated with bacteria.

At its most serious, food poisoning can lead to severe illnesses and even kill.

Bacteria and germs in food are very hard to detect because they do not affect either the taste, appearance or smell of food.

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Research to focus on prevention in food sources, such as chicken
By Marilyn Bitomsky

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA | The incidence of foodborne gastroenteritis caused by Campylobacter has now surpassed that of salmonella and shigella by a factor of at least two, according to an Australian scientist.

To seek prevention and treatment answers, the 13th International Workshop on Campylobacter, Helicobacter and Related Organisms focused on warm-blooded animals and birds, particularly those that are part of our food chain.

"Spread through contaminated poultry and meats, unpasteurized milk and unchlorinated water, Campylobacter has become a major cause of lost productivity in the workplace and a health issue of concern," said Dr. Victoria Korolik from Griffith University's Institute for Glycomics here.

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By Charles W. Schmidt
Sep 17, 2005

Mounting evidence suggests that the poultry industry's use of antibiotics promotes antibiotic resistance among the foodborne bacteria that infect humans. One such bacterium is Campylobacter, a pathogen common to chicken products. Every year more than 1 million Americans develop Campylobacter -induced food poisoning from eating undercooked contaminated chicken. Resistant strains of Campylobacter are a growing public health threat, particularly among elderly and immunocompromised patients. This month, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health provide evidence suggesting that chickens raised without antibiotics are less likely to carry antibiotic-resistant strains of Campylobacter [EHP 113:557-560].

The study focused on fluoroquinolones (FQs), a class of antimicrobials used to control the bacterium Escherichia coli in broiler chickens. Of the two FQs initially approved for use in poultry, Sara Flox WSP and Baytril, only the latter remains on the market. The Food and Drug Administration is seeking to repeal approval for Baytril due to concerns that it contributes to microbial resistance.

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14/09/05 - Health news section

A common stomach bug that strikes more than 42,000 people a year could be spread in tap water, experts warned.

Campylobacter, the commonest reported bacterial cause of infectious intestinal disease in England and Wales, causes severe diarrhoea, stomach pain and vomiting.

The bug is linked to undercooked meat, especially chicken, unpasteurised milk and untreated water and can also be spread by pets.

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Date: 03/09/05

Poorly cooked meat is a major cause of lost productivity in the Australian workplace, a scientist says.

Victoria Korolik, of the Griffith Institute for Glycomics, said around 200,000 Australians fell ill annually from a form of food poisoning caused by Campylobacter bacteria.

She said the bacteria was spread through contaminated meats, particularly poultry, unpasteurised milk and unchlorinated water.

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Linda Bren
August 26, 2005

Pasteurization, since its adoption in the early 1900s, has been credited with dramatically reducing illness and death caused by contaminated milk. But today, some people are passing up pasteurized milk for what they claim is tastier and healthier "raw milk."

Public health officials couldn't disagree more.

Drinking raw (untreated) milk or eating raw milk products is "like playing Russian roulette with your health," says John Sheehan, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Division of Dairy and Egg Safety. "We see a number of cases of foodborne illness every year related to the consumption of raw milk."

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GARRY MITCHELL
Associated Press

MOBILE, Ala. - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is nearing its decision on banning basa catfish from Vietnam, which has already been taken off the shelves in three Southeastern states.

FDA spokesman Mike Herndon said Thursday a decision could come next week on how the agency will rule on the multimillion-dollar catfish imports. The agency is under pressure from an Arkansas congressman for a nationwide ban.

"Right now it's a state issue," Herndon said in a telephone interview from FDA's office in Rockville, Md.

Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana banned Vietnam basa catfish after officials detected antibiotics given to prevent disease in Vietnamese fish.

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Date Published: August 17, 2005
Source: Newsinferno.com News Staff

Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Robert Odom announced on Monday that nearly 350 tons (700,000 pounds) of Vietnamese seafood has been taken off the market since Friday and remain must remain frozen until it can be analyzed for an antibiotic that is not allowed in food.

Inspectors are checking cold storage facilities, seafood markets, restaurants, grocery stores, and other retail establishments, looking for any basa catfish, crab meat, and any other seafood products from Vietnam.

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By Ahmed ElAmin

12/08/2005 - With up to 76 per cent of UK chickens testing positive for Campylobacter, processors and their suppliers will soon be facing a food safety crackdown from the country's regulator.

The process will mean greater costs for UK food processors as they implement new measures and increased screening and cleaning techniques to reach the target. The problem is prevalent throughout the EU.

In a consultation document published yesterday the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) proposed reducing that level by 50 per cent in 2010, noting that it would be targeting the start of the supply chain first then moving through food processing and on to the retail level.

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Updated: Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005 - 12:34 PM
Hank Silverberg, WTOP Radio

FAIRFAX, Va. -- Watch what you eat. Virginia health officials say this summer more people in Northern Virginia are getting sick from food-borne illnesses.

"In the past couple of weeks, we've seen or suspected 50 additional cases of food-borne illness, primarily caused by the Salmonella bacteria," says Virginia Department of Health spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell.

Those 50 cases in Northern Virginia are in addition to another 150 cases previously reported.

"We are seeing an increase, and it is of concern," Caldwell says.

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Review: reduction of Campylobacter spp. by commercial antimicrobials applied during the processing of broiler chickens: a review from the United States perspective

August, 2005
Journal of Food Protection: Volume 68, Number 8
Page 1752-1760

Omar A. Oyarzabal

Department of Poultry Science, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849-5416, USA

ABSTRACT

A reduction in Campylobacter spp. has been associated with use of commercial antimicrobial technologies during the processing of broiler chickens. This review is focused on commercial interventions that have received approval by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for use on raw poultry in the United States. Most of these interventions are currently applied prechill. The limited number of publications on the topic suggests that the application of antimicrobials in commercial settings results in Campylobacter reduction of 1 to 2 log CFU/ml of carcass rinse. However, postchill counts of 0.5 to 1 log CFU/ml of carcass rinse (approximately 4,000 CFU per carcass) are still common. Thus, antimicrobial interventions are not a complete solution for the control of Campylobacter on raw poultry. New postchill interventions are needed, as are (i) improvements in the methodology for detection and enumeration of Campylobacter, (ii) additional surveys on the contamination of processed poultry, and (iii) an understanding of possible resistance to antimicrobials by Campylobacter spp. Research addressing these topics will lead to better control of Campylobacter in commercial poultry carcasses.

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August, 2005
Journal of Food Protection: Volume 68, Number 8
Page 1600-1605

Marianne Sandberg,a Merete Hofshagen,b ÿyvin ÿstensvik,a Eystein Skjerve,a and Giles Innocent c

aNorwegian School of Veterinary Science, P.O. Box 8146 Dep., N-0033 Oslo, Norway

bThe Norwegian Zoonosis Centre, P.O. Box 8156 Dep., N-0033 Oslo, Norway
cComparative Epidemiology and Informatics, Division of Animal Production and Public Health, University of Glasgow Veterinary School, Bearsden Road, Glasgow G61 IQH UK, Scotland

ABSTRACT

In the Norwegian Action Plan against Campylobacter in broilers, carcasses from flocks identified as positive before slaughter are either heat treated or frozen for 5 weeks to reduce the number of Campylobacter. The objective of this study was to estimate the effect of freezing time and predict the number of Campylobacter on naturally infected or contaminated broiler carcasses following freezing for 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 21, 35, and 120 days by nonparametric and parametric linear statistical models. From each of the five flocks, 27 carcasses were sampled. Each carcass was cut in two pieces along the chest bone. Half was put into the freezer (-20 degrees C), whereas the other was deskinned and quantitative culturing was conducted from a 10-g sample of the skin. Fifteen frozen halves were selected at random at each time point following freezing from 2 to 120 days, and skin samples from these were cultured quantitatively and qualitatively. In regard to the log reduction of Campylobacter, almost similar results were obtained using three statistical methods; median regression on the change in Campylobacter counts, zero-inflated negative binomial regression, and a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (decay) model on original counts. Overall, a 2-log reduction of Campylobacter was obtained after 3 weeks of freezing. Only a marginal extra effect was oBSErved when extending the freezing to 5 weeks. Although freezing appears to be an efficient way to reduce the level of Campylobacter on broiler carcasses, in 80% of the carcasses Campylobacter could still be detected using quantitative culturing following 120 days of freezing. Based on the high number of zeros, these data should be modeled by a zero-inflated model. The best statistical fit in regard to goodness-of-fit measures was the zero-inflated negative binomial log link model, closely followed by the Poisson model. Thus, in our continued search for a better way to describe the data, we used the Poisson distribution in the mixed Bayesian decay models.

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ANIMAL ANTIBIOTICS

Why did the chicken take the antibiotic? Not because she was sick, necessarily, but because some other birds in her beak-by-giblet poultry barn were sick. Which isn't surprising, considering their less-than-sanitary living conditions.

Whenever a few birds show symptoms of respiratory infections, which they often do, it has long been common practice to just medicate the lot of them by putting an antibiotic such as Bayer's Baytril into their water.

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Wednesday, August 03, 2005
By Carrina Stanton, cstanton@chronline.com

Thousands of visitors will soon flock to the Twin Cities for the Southwest Washington Fair.

And more than likely, more than a few of them will come by the barns to see the Erven family's sheep they raise through the 4-H program.

"That's part of the fair experience, and part of the reason for the exhibit, so kids can see where milk comes from and where produce comes from," said mother Peggy Erven, Salkum.

Interacting with farm animals is as much a part of most people's fair experience as elephant ears and cotton candy. But each year, health organizations warn the public to take steps to make sure the only memento they bring home from animal exhibits is a memory.

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Wednesday, August 3, 2005BY LOIS MAHARG
Ann Arbor News Bureau

'When in doubt, throw it out'' is never better advice than during picnic season, when food sits out in the hot summer sun.

"Bacteria grow well between 70 and 120 degrees, but they grow most rapidly between 90 and 110 degrees,'' said Joan Miller, extension educator at Michigan State University Extension. "And in a picnic setting generally there's a lot of moisture in the air that allows bacteria to grow fast.''

These bacteria - E. coli 0157, Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter - can wreak havoc on the gastrointestinal tract and, in some cases, lead to serious illness and death.

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Wednesday, August 3, 2005 12:29 PM CDT

DES MOINES (AP) --- Food service giant Compass Group, which cooks for schools, museums, hospitals and corporations nationwide, unveiled a first-of-its kind purchasing policy aimed at reducing the use of antibiotics in pork production.

Released Tuesday, it comes just days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the use of Baytril in poultry because of concerns the drug could lead to antibiotic-resistant infections in people.

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August 1, 2005

Baytril antibiotic, used in chickens and turkeys, causes resistant bacteria to emerge

BETTE HILEMAN


The Food & Drug Administration has banned the use of the antibiotic Baytril in poultry because it causes resistance to emerge in Campylobacter bacteria. Campylobacter in poultry is one of the most common causes of severe bacterial food poisoning in humans.

Baytril, a fluoroquinolone known generically as enrofloxacin, is the first veterinary drug to be banned because it leads to the emergence of resistant bacteria. It is chemically similar to the antibiotic Cipro, which is widely prescribed to treat food-borne illness in people. Use of Baytril in poultry, FDA says, reduces the effectiveness of Cipro in treating Campylobacter in humans. Baytril's manufacturer, Bayer, has 60 days to appeal FDA's decision.
Most of the Baytril given to chickens and turkeys is used for therapeutic, not growth promotion, purposes. When a respiratory infection shows up in a few birds in a flock, for example, Baytril is commonly given to the entire flock.

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July 21, 2005 12:31 PM US Eastern Timezone

DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 21, 2005--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c21227) has announced the addition of Understanding Pathogen Behaviour: Virulence, Stress Response and Resistance to their offering

Pathogens respond dynamically to their environment. Understanding their behaviour is critical both because of evidence of increased resistance to established sanitation and preservation techniques, and because of the increased use of minimal processing technologies which are more vulnerable to the development of resistance. "Understanding Pathogen Behaviour" summarises the wealth of recent research and its implications for the food industry.

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20/07/2005 - UK-based food processors who use poultry in their products are likely to face more safety regulations after a government report singles out chicken meat as the largest contributor to Campylobacter infections in the country.

"Given the prevalence of Campylobacter in poultry, and knowing how easily pathogens can persist and spread in the domestic and catering environments, we believe that reducing the level of the organism in poultry meat is likely to make a significant contribution to the battle against human foodborne illness," the advisory committee stated in a report to the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

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When diners become ill and blame something they ate, state experts start sleuthing. They interview the victims, conduct food lineups and try to narrow down the suspects.
By Scott Joseph
Sentinel Restaurant Critic
July 20, 2005

Sometimes people think it's just a touch of the flu, a 24-hour bug. Upset stomach, cramps and diarrhea might be some of the discomforts they experience. But on occasion, these are actually indicators of a food-borne illness, and, for epidemiologists such as Dean Bodager, they aren't symptoms, they're clues.

Whenever there is an outbreak of food-borne illnesses, it falls to Bodager and other members of the Florida Department of Health to track down the source. Sometimes it's simple. Most outbreaks occur at the point of preparation -- a restaurant employee who didn't wash his or her hands properly, food that wasn't kept at the correct temperature to prevent bacteria growth, or some sort of cross-contamination.

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Article published Saturday, July 16, 2005

TOLEDO ZOO

By ROBIN ERB

The Toledo Zoo's petting zoo is scheduled to reopen today, less than a month after officials warned they might close it for the summer because a routine animal screening detected an infectious bacteria.

One Lucas County child became infected with campylobacteriosis, the illness caused by the bacteria campylobacter, after visiting the zoo in June, according to an epidemiologist at the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department.

But it was unclear whether the boy picked up the bacteria at the zoo or elsewhere.

Health officials say the organism is extremely common. Once passed to humans, it can cause a fever, diarrhea, and vomiting that typically lasts several days, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Source: Society for Experimental Biology

Date: 2005-07-11

Do you enjoy eating oysters on a hot sunny afternoon? Make the most of it -- it may not last forever. Research has shown that global warming increases the sensitivity of oysters to metal pollution, causing a deadly threat to populations in polluted areas.

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July 2005

Arthritis, in children or adults, is called "reactive" when it is due to a delayed reaction to an infection. The arthritis usually occurs two to four weeks after the infection and lasts from eight to 16 weeks. It may recur or last longer in some people. Current research supports combining antibiotics with other treatments for this condition.

Signs and Symptoms:

-Joint problems in large joints, such as hips, knees and ankles, and sacroiliac joints
-Affects fingers and toes
-Joint problems on one side of the body only
-Swelling of entire fingers or toes, making them resemble sausages
-HLA-B27 genetic tissue type

Causes:
The most common infections causing juvenile reactive arthritis include:

-Bowel infections, such as dysentery and food poisoning
-Bacteria, such as shigella, campylobacter or salmonella
-Sexually transmitted diseases, such as chlalmydia

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Health Talk & You
Craig Hedberg, Ph.D.
The Pilot-Independent
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 06th, 2005 09:26:33 AM

It's that time of year when we fire up the grill, dish out the potato salad, and cut up the fruit salad for festive summer picnics and barbeques. But nothing can spoil a rollicking warm-weather gathering like a food-borne illness.

While it's a pleasure to eat outside, the risks for contracting food-borne illnesses are higher when you prepare and serve a meal out of doors.

There are several ways to make sure you don't unwittingly infect yourself and your guests with dangerous illnesses like salmonella, E. coli and campylobacter. The first step is to wash your hands with soap and running water before preparing, serving or eating any food.

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William D. Marler (www.williammarler.com), an attorney at Marler Clark LLP PS (http://www.marlerclark.com) has extensive experience representing victims of bacterial and viral food poisonings. Since 1993, Marler Clark has represented victims of most of the largest foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, including the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli, 1998 Odwalla E. coli, 1999 Sun Orchard Salmonella, 2002 ConAgra E. coli and Chili's Salmonella outbreaks, the 2003 Chi Chi's Hepatitis A outbreak, and the 2004 Sheetz Salmonella outbreak.
Bill feels that a lawyer should do more than just sue corporations. That is why he speaks frequently on issues of safe food and formed Outbreak, Inc. (http://www.outbreakinc.com), a not-for-profit business dedicated to explaining to companies why it is in their interest to avoid food illness litigation. Bill also has created (http://marlerblog.com) as a way of updating the Web on issues of interest to him.

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From the CDC

What is campylobacteriosis?

Campylobacteriosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria of the genus Campylobacter. Most people who become ill with campylobacteriosis get diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain, and fever within 2 to 5 days after exposure to the organism. The diarrhea may be bloody and can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. The illness typically lasts 1 week. Some persons who are infected with Campylobacter don't have any symptoms at all. In persons with compromised immune systems, Campylobacter occasionally spreads to the bloodstream and causes a serious life-threatening infection.

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Use a food thermometer to make sure food is safe

Most people think they can check the doneness of burgers, pork chops and chicken breasts just by "eyeballing it." They look at it and judge the doneness by its appearance. They trust their experience. Experience is good, but it might be misleading.

According to a recent USDA study, one out of every four hamburgers turns brown in the middle before it has reached a safe internal temperature.

Eating undercooked meats or poultry increases the risk of food-borne illness. Many pathogens live naturally in the intestinal tracts of food animals.

Surveys of meat sold in retail food stores indicate that between one-fourth and three-fourths of all meat and poultry cuts sold in 1999 might have been contaminated with food-borne pathogens.

Bacteria most commonly associated with undercooked meats are campylobacter, salmonella and escherichia coli O157:H7.

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By Carole Sugarman

My daughter never met a chicken tender she didn't like. But during a recent family vacation in Florida, 9-year-old Anna was struck with a bad case of salmonellosis -- disease caused by salmonella. And while we'll never know for sure, we strongly suspect it was caused by contaminated, undercooked poultry at one of her daily restaurant chicken meals.

There is more than a little irony in this tale of excruciating stomach pains, bathroom vigils and hospital emergency rooms.

As a food writer for 25 years, I've interviewed numerous victims of food-borne diseases and parents of children who've died from them. I've attended scores of conferences and hearings where food safety issues are debated among government officials, industry and activist groups.

But this was the first time I got to see firsthand how devastating full-blown food-borne illness can be. Believe me, we're not talking about a bad tummy ache.

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www.about-campylobacter.com

Campylobacter jejuni (Pronounced "camp-e-low-back-ter j-june-eye") was not recognized as a cause of human foodborne illness prior to 1975. Now, the bacterial organism is known to be the most common cause of bacterial foodborne illness in the U.S.1 (Salmonella is the second most common cause).

Most cases Campylobacter infection occur as isolated, sporadic events, not as a part of the large outbreaks. Even though surveillance is very limited, over 10,000 cases are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year. Active surveillance for cases indicates that over 17 cases for each 100,000 persons in the population (or about 46,000 cases) are diagnosed yearly.1 Undoubtedly, many more cases go undiagnosed and unreported, and estimates are that Campylobacter causes 2-4 million cases per year in the United States.4

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Jun 27, 2005

The Children's Zoo in Toledo was closed for the weekend after three animals tested positive for an infectious bacteria that causes gastrointestinal illness.

No patrons have reported being ill, but officials said Friday that the petting portion of the children's zoo could remain closed for the rest of the summer.

"This is not a major public health hazard, we're just being extremely, extremely cautious," said Andrew Odum, chairman of the zoo's biological programs committee.

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Jun 27, 2005

TOLEDO (AP) -- The Children's Zoo in Toledo was closed for the weekend after three animals tested positive for an infectious bacteria that causes gastrointestinal illness. No patrons have reported being ill, but officials said Friday that the petting portion of the children's zoo could remain closed for the rest of the summer.

"This is not a major public health hazard, we're just being extremely, extremely cautious," said Andrew Odum, chairman of the zoo's biological programs committee. The zoo is part of the much larger Toledo Zoo.

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Saturday, June 25, 2005
Petting area may stay shut awhile
By TAD VEZNER
BLADE STAFF WRITER

The Children's Zoo at the Toledo Zoo was shut down yesterday following the discovery of an infectious bacteria in several of its animals.

And zoo officials said last night that the petting portion of the children's facility could remain closed for the rest of the summer.

Last week, two baby calves sharing the same stall tested positive during routine testing for a bacteria known as Campylobacter, a common cause of gastrointestinal illness. A sow that had just given birth in an adjacent stall also tested positive.

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Breaking News on Supplements & Nutrition in the USA

6/15/2005- New technology could soon make it cheap and easy to identify food pathogens by tagging them with color-coded probes made out of synthetic tree-shaped DNA.

These tiny "nanobarcodes" fluoresce under ultraviolet light in a combination of colors that can then be read by a computer scanner or observed with a fluorescent light microscope.

The Cornell University research group behind the project likens the technology to a supermarket checkout computer, capable of identifying thousands of different items by scanning barcodes.

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To: National and State Desks
Contact: Sean Crowley, 202-478-6128 or 202-550-6524 (cell) or scrowley@mrss.com, for Keeping Antibiotics Working

WASHINGTON, June 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The U.S. House of Representatives last night passed a measure to ban the federal school lunch program from purchasing poultry treated with Cipro-like antibiotics because this use promotes spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause severe food poisoning. The amendment to the Fiscal Year 2006 Agriculture appropriations bill, offered by U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), is similar to an amendment offered by U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) that the Senate passed in November 2003 as part of the Fiscal Year 2004 Agriculture appropriations bill. Similar state bills that would ban state school lunch programs from buying chickens treated with Cipro-like antibiotics were introduced earlier this year in Ohio by State Sen. Robert F. Hagan (D-Youngstown, Ohio) and in Maine by State Sen. Scott Cowger (D-Kennebec, Maine).

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For more information see:
www.about-campylobacter.com

Campylobacter jejuni (Pronounced "camp-e-low-back-ter j-june-eye") was not recognized as a cause of human foodborne illness prior to 1975. Now, the bacterial organism is known to be the most common cause of bacterial foodborne illness in the U.S.1 (Salmonella is the second most common cause).

Most cases Campylobacter infection occur as isolated, sporadic events, not as a part of the large outbreaks. Even though surveillance is very limited, over 10,000 cases are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year. Active surveillance for cases indicates that over 17 cases for each 100,000 persons in the population (or about 46,000 cases) are diagnosed yearly.1 Undoubtedly, many more cases go undiagnosed and unreported, and estimates are that Campylobacter causes 2-4 million cases per year in the United States.4

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2005

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Contact with animals in public settings, such as at fairs and petting zoos, can be fun and educational. However, it also can lead to the transmission of various serious infectious diseases, especially among children.

"This is the season for petting zoos, county fairs and other events where people come in contact with animals and we want to remind everyone that simple prevention steps, such as hand washing, can reduce the risk of illness," said Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, state public health director. "In fact, hand washing is the single most important step for reducing the risk for disease transmission."

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Drinking water found to be likely Camp Yamhill disease source
From foodconsumer
B.iological A.gents
By Philip Berger - Oregon Department of Health Services/Public Health
June 3, 2005
DHS news release

State and local public health officials have identified water contamination as the likely source of last week's disease outbreak at Camp Yamhill in Yamhill County, which sickened more than 50 people.

Mel Kohn, M.D., state epidemiologist in the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS), said the camp's water treatment system, which draws water from the North Yamhill River, may have been overwhelmed by surface water run-off caused by recent heavy rainfall.

Kohn said it appears that more than one bacterial contaminant was in the water.

"The laboratory has confirmed cases of both E.coli O157 and Campylobacter, both of which cause diarrhea," Kohn said. "Those who were infected suffered varying degrees of illness, but we are glad to say that most have recovered."

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By Sharon Durham
May 23, 2005

Reducing the pathogenic bacterium Campylobacter on poultry farms and in processing plants begins with finding its sources, one of which is the birds' lungs, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists report.

Microbiologists Mark Berrang and Richard Meinersmann and animal physiologist Richard J. Buhr at the ARS Richard B. Russell Agricultural Research Center in Athens, Ga., studied Campylobacter before and after chicken carcasses were scalded to remove feathers, an integral step in poultry processing.

Bacteria can contaminate live chickens during production or transport, or carcasses during scalding. In either case, Campylobacter would contaminate respiratory air sacs and could then contaminate the abdominal cavity.

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May 12, 2005

According to recently published research in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, "The goal of the present study was to assess the contribution of real-time molecular typing, used alone or with clinical surveillance, to the prompt identification of clusters of Campylobacter enteritis.

"Potential poultry sources were sought by comparing the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis genotypes of human and fresh whole retail chicken isolates collected during the same study period."

"Among 183 human isolates, 82 (45%) had unique genotypes, 72 (39%) represented 26 clusters of 2 to 7 isolates each, and 29 (16%) represented three clusters of 8 to 11 isolates each.

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