Campylobacter Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Campylobacter Blog

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.

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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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