Campylobacter Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Campylobacter Blog

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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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.

Keep reading here

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Marler Clark, Food Poisoning Attorneys

Marler Clark is the nation's foremost law firm with a practice dedicated to representing victims of food poisoning.

Since 1993, Marler Clark's lawyers have represented thousands of clients in litigation against restaurants and food companies whose food was traced as the source of illness. The Marler Clark food poisoning lawyers have brought claims on behalf of individuals sickened as part of outbreaks - cases involving multiple people sickened by a common source - and individuals whose illnesses were considered "isolated," yet could be traced to a particular food source.

Centers for Disease Control: Frequently Asked Questions about Campylobacter jejuni

Answers questions such as: How common is Campylobacter? What sort of germ is Campylobacter? How is the infection diagnosed? How does food or water get contaminated with Campylobacter? What can be done to prevent the infection? What are public health agencies doing to prevent or control campylobacteriosis?

The "Bad Bug" Book: Campylobacter jejuni

This online handbook provides basic facts about Campylobacter jejuni, and brings together in one place information from the FDA, CDC, National Institutes of Health, and the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. IT IS AN EXCELLENT RESOURCE THAT WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Kids Health for Parents: Campylobacter Infections

Offers general information on Campylobacter infections, its signs and symptoms as well as information on how to identify if a child is suffering from foodborne illness.

The Virtual Museum of Bacteria

Provides pictures of campylobacter bacteria, and links to other photo sources, fact sheets, lectures, and scientific sites about campylobacter jejuni.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency: Campylobacter information

Fact sheet on Campylobacter infection, including symptoms, risks, and what producers are doing to try to protect consumers.

S.T.O.P - Safe Tables Our Priority

S.T.O.P. -- Safe Tables Our Priority is a non-profit grassroots organization devoted to victim assistance, public education, and policy advocacy for safe food and public health. The organization was founded in 1993 by family and friends of people who became ill or died from exposure to E. coli O157:H7 and other pathogenic bacteria in meat and poultry. S.T.O.P.'s mission is to prevent unnecessary illness and loss of life from foodborne contamination. This is an excellent informational site, but also a critical resource for people whose lives have been affected by this deadly bacterium.

The Medical Reporter

In our travels on the Web, we have had an opportunity to look at a LOT of sites about medical care and health, and this is one of the best. The Medical Reporter is an independent, educational, non-profit health magazine for enlightened healthcare consumers. Published solely in cyperspace since April of 1995, The Medical Reporter emphasizes preventive medicine, primary care, patient advocacy, education and support of interest to men and women alike. Please check it out and tell us what you think.


The Journal Watch Infectious Diseases

Edited and reviewed by more than 80 physicians, JWatch regularly combs 180 medical journals for important findings in infectious diseases.


National Institutes of Health Main Homepage

The National Institutes of Health web site is huge, with links to countless other sites, all having to do with (you guessed it) HEALTH. In particular, the sections having to do with HEALTH INFORMATION and SCIENTIFIC RESOURCES are both impressively vast, and typically quite helpful. You can do no-cost MedLine searches here as well, and link to on-line catalogs, journals, and learn about ongoing research projects. You could spend hours surfing this site, and learn tons.

Foodborne Illness: What Consumers Need to Know

Part of a website designed to provide health and safety information for HIV-positive individuals, and persons living with AIDS, this web-page provide simple, yet important, information about foodborne illnesses and how best to avoid them.

National Center for Food Safety and Technology

The NCFST is a consortium organized to address the complex issues raised by emerging food technologies. It includes academia, industry, and the government to combine resources and encourage cooperative efforts to ensure the continued food safety and quality of the nation's food supply. This is not necessarily the prettiest site around, but it contains a good amount of helpful information, especially about available educational programs.

The Food Safety Network

The Food Safety Network (FSN), housed at the University of Guelph, provides research, commentary, policy evaluation and public information on food safety issues, from farm-to-fork. In addition to four daily listserves, FSN offers consumer, student and industry outreach services, information research, on-line resources, collaborative projects, evaluation and analysis, and a capacity to address current and emerging food safety concerns.

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Raw milk has been the source of numerous outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and other outbreaks in recent years. Although advocates of drinking raw milk believe there are health benefits, the risks certainly outweigh them. An article from the Baxter Bulletin today highlights the debate over the purported benefits of raw milk versus the safety of our food supply and the duties of public health officials who must work to prevent outbreaks of Campylobacter and other foodborne illnesses: Advocates of raw milk are behind legislative efforts in Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky and Nebraska to legalize selling raw milk. Moves to introduce legislation have begun in North Carolina and Maryland. Raw milk appeals to consumers who seek natural and unprocessed foods, to those with health concerns who believe it has curative powers, and most recently to a new wave of evangelical Christians who follow the teachings of Jordan Rubin's The Maker's Diet, a Bible-based diet of unprocessed foods. But this is a dangerous game, public health officials say. In June, more than 58 people in Wisconsin became ill with Campylobacter jejuni from unpasteurized cheese curds. In January, five people became ill with campylobacteriosis after drinking raw milk from a dairy in Larimer County, Colo. In December 2005, six children in Washington state were infected with a potentially deadly form of E. coli O157:H7 bacteria from drinking unpasteurized milk. No matter how clean the cows or the barn, all milk contains fecal material, says William Keene, senior epidemiologist in Oregon's Acute and Communicable Disease Program.

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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.

In the year to March, overall meat consumption rose 2.8 per cent. Poultry dropped 5.9 per cent overall but chicken remained the most eaten individual meat at 35.6kg a person.

Brooks noted that chicken's drop had followed years of record increases in consumption.

"The year ended March 2006 figures were a result that was bound to happen as consumption cannot continue to grow at those levels forever."

Meanwhile, the poultry association board has agreed on a number of campylobacter-related measures. They include trials of treatment options, sharing data with the NZ Food Safety Authority, improved food handling and preparation advice to consumers, and a review of advice on packaging.

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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.

Lead study author Dr Michael Baker says New Zealand now has the dubious distinction of having the world's highest reported rates of campylobacter infection. "Immediate action is needed to control New Zealand's epidemic of campylobacter infection. In addition to food hygiene, we actually need to deal with the source of the infection."

The study reported that the rise in notifications was matched by a similar rise in hospitalisations for this infection - suggesting that the increase in disease rates is real, rather than being caused by better surveillance.

Dr Baker says the causes of this increase are not known for sure, but are likely to be linked to the rise in consumption of fresh chicken. A recent report, commissioned by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, noted that up to 90 per cent of fresh chicken sold for consumption is contaminated with campylobacter. The risk is not from properly-cooked chicken, but largely from under-cooked chicken and foods that have been cross-contaminated from fresh chicken.

Dr Baker estimates that contaminated chicken is likely to be causing at least 50,000 cases of campylobacter infection in New Zealand each year and more than 400 hospitalisations. He bases this estimate on a previous large national study that found at least 50 per cent of disease could be attributed to chicken consumption - more than all of the other risk factors combined. Overseas studies have found that that the real rate of campylobacter in the community is seven-to-eight times higher than the number of notified cases, suggesting there are now more than 100,000 cases of campylobacter infection in New Zealand each year (based on 13,839 notified cases in 2005 and 871 hospitalisations).

"Chicken has become the cheap and dirty food of New Zealand," Dr Baker says. However, he suggests that, while it may be cheap to buy, the estimated cost of campylobacter to New Zealand today is $70 to 80 million, of which chicken consumption is likely to be responsible for at least half.

Dr Baker urges two key approaches to reduce the harm from the campylobacter epidemic. "First, we have to acknowledge that contaminated chicken is the major cause of this epidemic. A good start would be an open public dialogue between the poultry industry, regulators, scientists and consumer organisations about the scale of the problem and how to address it using proven methods.

"Second, we should immediately switch to frozen poultry and seriously consider banning the sale of fresh chicken for human consumption, unless it can be shown to have minimal contamination. Freezing chicken greatly reduces contamination levels."

Dr Baker also advocates a research programme to evaluate the impact of any switch to frozen poultry. "That way we would know at the end of the day how much illness had been prevented."

One of the study co-authors, Dr Nick Wilson, who has observed the debate about the causes of New Zealand's campylobacter epidemic for more than 10 years, says he is dismayed at the level of procrastination by industry. He cites two misconceptions which he has seen used to justify these delays.

"There has been a tendency to blame the public for not handling poultry properly. This is like blaming the consumer who finds half a mouse in their meat pie. Fresh chicken sold in New Zealand is literally dripping with campylobacter. Everything that raw chicken touches can become cross-contaminated to the extent that even a spotlessly well-run home kitchen or restaurant can become a source of infection. We have to move away from this kind of victim blaming.

"The second misconception I have heard over and over again is that chicken is just one of many sources, so should not be singled out. This is like the tobacco industry saying that smoking is not the only cause of lung cancer. While it is technically correct, it diverts attention away from the main cause. Let's make chicken the focus of our campylobacter control efforts. If we are successful in controlling that source we could potentially eliminate at least 50 per cent of cases. Once we have achieved that, then let's look at the other less important sources of infection."

To support these arguments Dr Baker cites two well-documented examples from overseas. The first example was a "natural experiment" in Belgium where poultry was withdrawn from the market for four weeks in 1999 because of concerns that it might be contaminated with dioxin. Rates of campylobacter infection fell by 40 per cent during this ban, and then returned to the previous level after chicken was put back on the shelves.

A second example comes from Iceland, where a comprehensive programme to reduce campylobacter contamination in its poultry was introduced in 2000. This programme included freezing poultry from flocks which tested positive for campylobacter rather than allow it to be sold as fresh poultry after it had been slaughtered. These measures were followed by a significant decline in disease rates. New Zealand, like Iceland, is an island country that produces its poultry locally so such measures should work here.

Dr Baker says it is completely unacceptable to sell a food that is heavily contaminated with bacteria that is making thousands of New Zealanders sick each month. "We know enough to act now to control this epidemic. I would never let unfrozen poultry into my house."

Other findings reported in the paper:
Campylobacter infection reached a peak of 14,790 cases in 2003, a rate of 396/100,000 population.
Corresponding rates in other countries were: Australia (117/100,000 in 2003), England and Wales (85/100,000 in 2003), Scotland (87/100,000 in 2003, Iceland (116/100,000 in 2000), Netherlands (37/100,000 in 2001), United States FoodNet sites (13/100,000 in 2003), and Canada (40/100,000 in 2000)
Rates of campylobacter notification are highest in children under 5 years and young adults (20-29 years). Hospitalisations also have a peak in the elderly (those 70-plus years).
Rates are significantly higher in males.
Rates are significantly higher in Europeans than in Maori and Pacific People, unlike many serious infections that tend to have higher rates in Maori and Pacific populations.
Rates are significantly higher in urban areas compared with rural populations for both notifications and hospitalisations.
The highest notification rates were in Wellington and South Canterbury district health board areas. Both districts had annual notification rates >400 / 100 000 (based on average for 2001-2003).
For more information, contact
Michael Baker
Senior Lecturer
Department of Public Health
Wellington School of Medicine & Health Sciences
University of Otago
Tel 64 4 385 5541 extn. 6802
Email michael.baker@otago.ac.nz

Brigid Feely
Communications Manager
University of Otago
Tel 64 3 479 8263
Email brigid.feely@otago.ac.nz

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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.

That may be just the tip of the iceberg. More than 100 people have reported some sort of gastrointestinal illness related to the camp, including 88 people who attended the camp, and another 20 who had a family member at the camp.

More than 300 people attended Camp Grace, near Wheatland, between mid-June and mid-July. The camp was closed and the investigation into the illnesses began.

Investigators are still interviewing people who attended the camp to determine how widespread the outbreak may be.

Wyoming Health Department epidemiologist Kelley Weidenbach says the case is extremely complex because of the number of people infected, and the fact that there are multiple infections to track.

Most of the camp-goers were from Wyoming, but others came from Colorado, Nebraska, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Washington.

Camp Grace has since been shut down, and camp officials are cooperating with the investigation.

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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.

"I am extremely concerned at the New Zealand Food Safety Authority's procrastinating on this issue, when all the modelling work shows that only permitting frozen chicken to be sold would reduce the risk of becoming ill from eating chicken 10 to 100 fold, Ms Kedgley said.

"Campylobacter infections have reached epidemic proportions in New Zealand, with scientists estimating that 50,000 New Zealanders are becoming ill from the bacteria, and 400 hospitalised each year.

"Other countries like Iceland have acted swiftly by only permitting frozen chicken to be sold, so I cannot understand why our Food Safety Authority wont follow suit.

"One of the key objectives of the Authority is to ensure that all food produced, marketed or distributed in New Zealand meets the highest standards of food hygiene and safety, so why is it failing so abysmally in its mandate?"

It was also concerning that the Food Safety Authority continued to place responsibility for the epidemic on poor food handling by consumers, instead of reducing the epidemic at one of the key sources - poultry slaughter houses.

"The Food Authority's own research shows that slaughter houses, and some of the machinery used in them, are major sources of cross contamination. Why doesn't it demand that the slaughter houses are cleaned up instead of blaming consumers?

"The Food Act is clear that it is illegal to sell contaminated food, so I cant understand why the Authority allows contaminated chicken to be sold, in breach of the Act.

Ms Kedgley said she was also concerned that the Authority continued to tell consumers on its website and its communications material that washing hands, utensils and chopping boards with soap and hot water would reduce the risk of infection, when scientists say that only washing everything with chlorine bleach will kill the bacteria.

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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.

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.

The problem is that persons who handle raw poultry contaminated by Campylobacter then handle other foods that receive no cooking before consumption such as fresh salads and lightly cooked vegetables. To aid in such risk assessment, scientists are finding better ways to understand the numbers and virulence properties of Campylobacter and those that resist antibiotics.

To better understand ciprofloxacin antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter, "current methods need to be refined for isolating and quantifying the complete diversity of such strains commonly occurring in raw poultry," Nannapaneni said.

"One of the highest priority research needs on Campylobacter was to develop laboratory methods for quantifying an antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter load persisting on raw poultry products," Nannapaneni said.

While fluoroquinolone antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter was found to be stable and persistent, there is some good news in the situation. A 30-month study in the Arkansas research showed that chickens often had at least minimally detectable levels of Campylobacter, but only a small percentage of carcasses contained high levels of the pathogen. The good news is that of those chickens with the high levels of Campylobacter, the number of them declined over the 30 months.

Up to 60 percent of chicken carcasses sampled during the study contained the Campylobacter that resist the ciprofloxacin antibiotic. And among those with the higher levels of the resistant Campylobacter, there were reductions each year in the percentage of carcasses carrying such high levels, going from 11 percent down to 0.6 percent.

The Arkansas research is significant for being the first time that trends could be determined by quantifying the total numbers of Campylobacter and the antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter found on chicken carcasses. A report of this new method was published in the scientific journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Among Campylobacter, almost all infections that cause illness in humans are carried by one species of the bacterium -- Campylobacter jejuni. Scientists want to be able to narrow down on Campylobacter jejuni from total Campylobacter. The current problem is that a methodology for doing so needs more refining.

"We are trying to come up with probes and methods that can separate antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter jejuni load versus total Campylobacter in raw chicken carcass rinses," Nannapaneni said. Developing such strategies is on the research agenda for the Food Safety Consortium for the coming year.

While it is currently impossible to completely eliminate antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter occurrence on raw chicken carcass surfaces or in its juices, the organism can be easily destroyed by proper cooking practices at home.

Source: University of Arkansas, Food Safety Consortium

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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."

The call by a University of Otago researcher for a ban on the sale of fresh chicken in favour of frozen will not eliminate the contamination says Dr Brooks.

"Freezing may not provide the hoped-for protection from food-borne illness. The number of bacteria needed for infection to occur differs. For many types of bacteria this is in excess of 100,000 bacterial cells, but for campylobacter the infecting dose may be as low as six cells."

He says there is also confusion about the contamination of chicken carcases in the food processing chain. "Campylobacter cannot grow below about 30 degrees Celsius, which means it can't grow during processing. The bacteria are found in the gut of animals and birds, so spillage of faeces onto the carcase or cross contamination during processing is the most likely route."

Dr Brooks says the Poultry Industry Association and poultry farmers have made strenuous attempts to eradicate campylobacter in chicken flocks - a difficult feat as campylobacter cells are also found in flies.

"Infection spreads through a rearing house like wildfire, and birds are transported to the processing facility in cages, so further cross contamination can occur."

In the kitchen, thawing of frozen chicken can have its own hazards -- the release of moisture can cause cross contamination of surfaces and other foods. Dr Brooks says the thorough cooking of chicken will destroy the campylobacter.

"We don't know how many of the reported cases of campylobacteriosis were caused by undercooking of chicken on the barbeque, but we do know that it is difficult to ensure even heating of chicken pieces. This is quite different from barbecuing slices of red meat, which are essentially sterile on the inside and so can be cooked rare with no risk to the consumer."

He says education must be a priority for the control of food poisoning.

"It is common for raw foods to contain pathogens, and the consumer must take some responsibility for controlling food poisoning by preventing cross-contamination in the kitchen and cooking raw foods properly."

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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.

A report recently commissioned by NZFSA and completed by ESR, Transmission routes for Campylobacteriosis in New Zealand, is helping NZFSA scientists to develop a computer-based risk assessment model that will evaluate all the steps in the food chain, up to the point of consumption, so that NZFSA risk managers can work out where best to intervene in food production processes to effectively reduce incidents of the illness.

NZFSA also reminds people that there are things they can do to help reduce the risk of infection. Two of the most important of these are to follow the 4Cs rule - clean, cook, cover, chill - and the 20+20 hand wash rule. NZFSA recommends washing your hands, using plenty of soap, for at least 20 seconds. Rinse them well and dry them for a further 20 seconds using a clean dry hand towel or disposable paper towel (the 20+20 rule).

Keep hand towels only for hands, or use paper towels - don't use the tea towel that is used to dry dishes. Use a fresh hand towel daily (or change it more often if it is wet).

Wash and dry your hands:

- before and after preparing food
- after handling raw meat and chicken (before you handle any other foods, or before you touch your face, mouth or eyes)
- after going to the toilet, helping a child to go to the toilet, or changing a baby's nappy
- after touching pets or farm animals
- after blowing or touching your nose, sneezing into your hand or touching your hair or your mouth while preparing food
- after gardening
- after handling rubbish.

The 4Cs and 20+20 rule are easy ways to remember the health-preserving basics of good food handling.

For more information on hand washing and safe food handling, check out NZFSA's website: www.nzfsa.govt.nz or visit the Foodsafe Partnership website: www.foodsafe.org.nz.

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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:

2001: Outbreak of Campylobacter jejuni infections from drinking "raw" or unpasteurized milk.

2003: Outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections from eating unpasteurized queso fresco (a Mexican-style soft cheese)

2003: Outbreak of Salmonella infections from eating unpasteurized queso fresco.

2004: Outbreak of E. coli.O157 infections from eating unpasteurized queso fresco

These Illnesses Can Be Dangerous

Getting sick from one of these germs can lead to diarrhea, stomach cramps, fever, headache, vomiting, or exhaustion. The misery typically lasts anywhere from several hours to a week or more but most healthy people will recover.

These illnesses can be dangerous for people with weakened immune systems, such as the elderly, children, and people with cancer, an organ transplant, or HIV/AIDS. Germs found in raw milk and raw dairy products can be especially dangerous to pregnant women and their unborn babies.

Pasteurization Is Key to Making Dairy Products Safe

Heat-treating milk to kill germs is called pasteurization . Using heat to pasteurize milk was first suggested in the late 1800's as a way to decrease the amount of a germ that causes tuberculosis. Today, pasteurization is still our main protection from germs carried in milk and cheese.

Pasteurization is a simple process. In the United States, raw milk is collected from cows and heated to a high temperature for a short period of time. This destroys any harmful germs that may be contaminating the milk. After it is pasteurized, milk and products made from milk are safe for human consumption. Pasteurization does not harm the nutritional value of milk and cheese.

Playing It Safe

When shopping for milk or cheese, play it safe. Carefully read food labels to make sure a product is pasteurized. Purchase only products that are pasteurized or made from pasteurized milk.

These people should always avoid raw milk or raw dairy products:

Pregnant women or women considering pregnancy

Children under 5 years of age

The elderly

Persons infected with HIV

Persons with cancer

Anyone who is immunocompromised (such as persons with organ transplants)

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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.

Stool samples from several affected individuals are being confirmed for Campylobacter at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene in Madison. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Laboratory is also conducting tests on food products recently eaten by ill individuals."

Kramolis declined to identify the suspect food items until investigations are complete, but said steps had been taken to ensure no other persons would be at risk from those products.

"We don't want to release that information right away because it might bias the interviews we are doing," she said.

Kramolis said when the investigations are completed, the source of the possible infections would be made public. She emphasized that the suspected source of the infections has been isolated and is no longer considered to be a further threat to the public.

Campylobacter infections are frequently associated with the consumption of unpasteurized milk or dairy products. The illness is not generally contagious person-to-person but could potentially be spread by persons working in food service or at a daycare facility who did not use good hand-washing practices.

"There is no risk to the public through a continued communicable disease state," she said.

Health officials are urging anyone who is exhibiting symptoms consistent with Campylobacter and have recently consumed unpasteurized milk or dairy products to contact their health care provider for diagnosis and confirmation of the illness. She also said anyone who has recently consumed unpasteurized milk or dairy products and still has the products available for testing, either opened or unopened, should contact the local health department for directions.

"Because of the health risk of Campylobacter infections, consumption of unpasteurized milk and dairy products is discouraged," Kramolis said.

Consuming raw or undercooked poultry, or exposure to farm animals, puppies or kittens with diarrheal illness may also cause the infection, she said.

The Ashland County Health Department, the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services' Division of Public Health and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection are collaborating in the investigation, Kramolis said.

"What we are doing at the state level is DNA fingerprinting, trying to match all these people to see if it is the same source," she said.

"If you recently consumed any unpasteurized dairy products and have the above symptoms, please see a physician and contact your local health department," she said. "It is important that your physician collect a stool sample before treating with antibiotics in order to confirm the diagnosis."

Kramolis said the investigation was still ongoing, and that none of the cases of suspected infection in Ashland County were life threatening.

Nevertheless, she said Campylobacter infections were a serious matter.

"It is very incapacitating if you get this," she said. "If you get this, you are very sick. You definitely know you've got something."

Kramolis said the disease was a special risk for the very young, the elderly or those with other health issues.

"Those people need to be careful," she said.

She said the department was educating the people they were talking to about Campylobacter.

"We are also doing everything we can to make notification to all of our medical facilities and our clinics. Right now we are at an investigational level, trying to determine the exact source," she said. "We feel we have a handle on it."

Kramolis said while rare, Campylobacter infections were not unknown in Ashland County.

"Typically we will see some cases in the summer anyway. In my county I might see one or two cases annually. So for me this is a major event, she said. "I don't know where our numbers are going to be when we are done. I wouldn't be causing this alert if I didn't have great concern."

Kramolis said persons with additional questions, or who suspect they or someone they know may have been infected, should call her at the Ashland health Department at (715) 682-7028.

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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.

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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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 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.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Terry Thornton, said health authorities have not pinpointed the source of the bacteria. She said Campylobacter can be spread through contaminated water or food, including meat or unpasteurized milk.

"It's a mystery right now," Thornton said. "We're looking at everything."

Most of the prisons with ill inmates were initially placed on 24-hour "lockdown" status after the outbreak, to reduce contact with contagious inmates and to free up staff to help with treatment, Thornton said. While on lockdown, prisons close to visitors and halt inmate programs and education.

Thornton said prison healthcare workers were most concerned about dehydration from excessive vomiting. Some inmates have been given intravenous fluids, she said.

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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.

"They're still trying to find out how inmates were exposed to it," she said.

The first group of Deuel inmates experienced fever, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea on Tuesday. The spread has slowed down at Deuel with just 18 new cases diagnosed from Thursday to Friday, said Deuel spokesman Lt. Mike Quaglia.

The epidemic has more than doubled, however, at Ione's Mule Creek State Prison, Thornton said. About 106 inmates there have come down with flulike symptoms, up from 44 the day before. Results from tests of inmate stool samples there haven't returned yet.

The Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla was put on the list of prisons reporting mass illness, with 40 women getting sick Friday. Sick inmates at all the afflicted prisons are being treated for dehydration. Symptoms last from two to five days.

Visiting has been suspended at Deuel and Mule Creek for the weekend. Thornton couldn't say how inmates at the different prisons became ill at about the same time.

"That's part of what they'll be looking at," she said.

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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.

It comes as health authorities warn we're seriously under-reporting the prevalence of the debilitating bacteria.

On average we eat about 36 kilograms of chicken per person every year

"It's a warning to people that it needs to be handled properly and cooked properly," says Dr Mel Brieseman, Canterbury Medical Officer of Health.

And while the statistics may appear alarming, the food safety authority says its not too surprised.

"It's the cross-contamination with the chicken or other meats onto the uncooked, or onto the glass that goes up to our lips, that is probably the most important route of infection for humans," Dr Roger Cook says from the Food Safety Authority.

The poultry industry association maintain that adequate cooking and handling are vital with chicken as it is with all meats. But they also add that addressing the campylobacter problem is a key industry focus.

And the authority says the industry's food handing standards are acceptable

"They've been designed, monitored and controlled to prevent the cross-contamination, but it's not always that easy to do," Dr Cook says.

As for consumers - they don't seem fazed

"Chicken is one of those things that you always have to be aware of as long as you cook it properly everything should be fine," says one.

And for that reason, the four c's are vital, cook, clean, chill, cover.

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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.

The problem is that persons who handle raw poultry contaminated by Campylobacter then handle other foods that receive no cooking before consumption such as fresh salads and lightly cooked vegetables. To aid in such risk assessment, scientists are finding better ways to understand the numbers and virulence properties of Campylobacter and those that resist antibiotics.

To better understand ciprofloxacin antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter, "current methods need to be refined for isolating and quantifying the complete diversity of such strains commonly occurring in raw poultry," Nannapaneni said.

"One of the highest priority research needs on Campylobacter was to develop laboratory methods for quantifying an antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter load persisting on raw poultry products," Nannapaneni said.

While fluoroquinolone antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter was found to be stable and persistent, there is some good news in the situation. A 30-month study in the Arkansas research showed that chickens often had at least minimally detectable levels of Campylobacter, but only a small percentage of carcasses contained high levels of the pathogen. The good news is that of those chickens with the high levels of Campylobacter, the number of them declined over the 30 months.

Up to 60 percent of chicken carcasses sampled during the study contained the Campylobacter that resist the ciprofloxacin antibiotic. And among those with the higher levels of the resistant Campylobacter, there were reductions each year in the percentage of carcasses carrying such high levels, going from 11 percent down to 0.6 percent.

The Arkansas research is significant for being the first time that trends could be determined by quantifying the total numbers of Campylobacter and the antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter found on chicken carcasses. A report of this new method was published in the scientific journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Among Campylobacter, almost all infections that cause illness in humans are carried by one species of the bacterium -- Campylobacter jejuni. Scientists want to be able to narrow down on Campylobacter jejuni from total Campylobacter. The current problem is that a methodology for doing so needs more refining.

"We are trying to come up with probes and methods that can separate antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter jejuni load versus total Campylobacter in raw chicken carcass rinses," Nannapaneni said. Developing such strategies is on the research agenda for the Food Safety Consortium for the coming year.

While it is currently impossible to completely eliminate antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter occurrence on raw chicken carcass surfaces or in its juices, the organism can be easily destroyed by proper cooking practices at home.

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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.

One such infection, Campylobacter, is a leading cause of food-borne illness in industrialized countries.

The study, by researchers at the Australian National University, examined 585 Australians who had Campylobacter infections.

Only 2 percent of these were resistant to the drug ciprofloxacin, a type of fluoroquinolone.

Countries that allow fluoroquinolone use in poultry have resistance rates in humans as high as 29 percent.

After years of debate, the Food and Drug Administration last year banned use of one fluoroquinolone drug in poultry to try to reduce drug resistance in the United States.

"This is a very important study," says Dr. Edward Septimus, an infectious diseases specialist in Billings, Mont. "We've been saying that we have to reduce antibiotic overuse in humans. We also have to remove it from animals."

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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.

At 165 degrees, Salmonella, Campylobacter and avian flu virus were destroyed in cooked poultry. USDA meat and poultry hotline manager Diane Van said last week that 180 degrees had been the poultry cooking temperature standard since at least the early 1980s.

"This is terrific news," said grilling expert and cookbook author Cheryl Jamison, when informed of the change. "We can enjoy chicken again without ending up with dried-out white meat." Jamison and her husband (and co-author) Bill have long advised temperatures of 165 to 170 degrees -- even though their cooking class students are always wary about Salmonella.

"I personally never followed that [USDA] advice," Jamison said.

Apparently the change also will not affect the pop-up thermometers found in the breast meat of roaster chickens and turkeys. They were already set for the "best eating experience" as well as a safety standard of 170 degrees, according to Julie DeYoung at Perdue Farms.

For more information, go to http://www.fsis.USDA.gov http://.

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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.

An Australian solution to the drug resistance problem has been to prohibit the use of certain antibiotics, called fluoroquinolones, in food animals such as poultry. Such a policy puts Australia in a relatively unique position, since its animal and food production levels are comparable to those of other industrialized nations, but it has avoided using the antibiotics that have been standard in the other countries' food animal production.

To evaluate whether the country's restrictive antibiotic policy has affected bacterial drug resistance, Australian researchers examined C. jejuni isolates collected from 585 patients in five Australian states. None of the patients had received fluoroquinolone treatment within the month prior to becoming ill. The researchers discovered that only 2 percent of the locally acquired Campylobacter isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, a type of fluoroquinolone. Countries that allow fluoroquinolone use in animals may have a drug resistance prevalence of up to 29 percent. Ciprofloxacin can be used to treat severe Campylobacter disease, so a low level of bacterial drug resistance should lead to better treatment efficacy.

"There are different causes that lead to bacterial antibiotic resistance, and use of antibiotics in food animals is only one of the multiple causes," said lead author Leanne Unicomb, an epidemiologist with OzFoodNet and Australia National University. However, the evidence indicates that "use of fluoroquinolones in food animals in other countries has increased the risk of resistance in [Campylobacter] isolates infecting humans," she said. The researchers concluded that the low drug resistance they found "probably reflects Australia's policy of prohibiting fluoroquinolones for animal use."

Other industrialized nations have also realized the apparent benefits of restricting antimicrobial use in animals. Sweden prohibited the use of fluoroquinolones for food animals in 1986, Norway has never licensed their use in food animals, and both countries have reported low trends -- similar to Australia's -- in fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter infecting humans. The United States, in a recent effort to reduce American levels of Campylobacter drug resistance, has taken a cue from other countries' success. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed banning fluoroquinolones in poultry in 2000, but one drugmaker fought the ban until it was finally enacted in September 2005.

Reducing the use of antibiotics in food animals, coupled with the authors' additional recommendation of "sensible use of fluoroquinolones in clinical settings," seem to be steps in the right direction toward curbing harmful foodborne bacterial drug resistance.

This information was provided by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

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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.

An Australian solution to the drug resistance problem has been to prohibit the use of certain antibiotics, called fluoroquinolones, in food animals such as poultry.

The policy assists Australians by protecting its animals and food production levels against the overuse of antibiotics.

To evaluate whether the country's restrictive antibiotic policy has affected bacterial drug resistance, Australian researchers examined C. jejuni isolates collected from 585 patients in five Australian states.

None of the patients had received fluoroquinolone treatment within the month prior to becoming ill.

The researchers discovered that only two per cent of the locally acquired Campylobacter isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, a type of fluoroquinolone.

Countries that allowed fluoroquinolone use in animals may have a drug resistance prevalence of up to 29 per cent.

Ciprofloxacin can be used to treat severe Campylobacter disease, so a low level of bacterial drug resistance should lead to better treatment efficacy.

Lead author Leanne Unicomb, an epidemiologist with OzFoodNet and Australia National University, said: "There are different causes that lead to bacterial antibiotic resistance, and the use of antibiotics in food animals is only one of the multiple causes.

"However, the evidence indicates that use of fluoroquinolones in food animals in other countries has increased the risk of resistance in [Campylobacter] isolates infecting humans," she added.

The team surmised that the low drug resistance "probably reflected Australia's policy of prohibiting fluoroquinolones for animal use".

Other industrialised nations finding benefit in restricting antibiotics in animal food include Sweden, Norway and the US.

The study was published in the 15 May issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

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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 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."

Scientific research indicates that foodborne pathogens and viruses, such as Salmonella, Campylobacter and the avian influenza virus, are destroyed when poultry is cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.

FSIS recommends the use of a food thermometer