March 2005

Campylobacter is the second most common cause of foodborne illness in the United States after Salmonella. Over 3,000 cases were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2003, or 12.6 cases for each 100,000 persons in the population. Many more cases go undiagnosed and unreported, with estimates as high as 2 to…

L.A. County’s restaurant rating system, which includes letter scores, has cut hospitalizations for food-borne diseases by 13%, study finds.
By Jia-Rui Chong and Hector Becerra, Times Staff Writers
March 11, 2005
Fewer people have been hospitalized with food-borne diseases in the last few years, in large part because of the restaurant-grading system in Los Angeles County, according to a new study in the Journal of Environmental Health.
The study, published in the March issue, associated a 13.1% decrease in hospitalizations for the most common food-borne illnesses with the county’s revamping of its restaurant inspection system in 1998.
Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the county’s public health director and an author of the study, said it was the first scientific proof that the grading system resulted in a “demonstrable public health benefit.”Continue Reading Eatery Grades Said to Reduce Illness

March 02, 2005
Bug of the Month for March: CAMPYLOBACTER
The Bacteria
Q: What is Campylobacter?
A: Campylobacter [pronounced “kamp-e-lo-back-ter”] bacteria are commonly found in the intestinal tracts of cats, dogs, poultry, cattle, swine, rodents, monkeys, wild birds, and some humans. The bacteria pass through feces to cycle through the environment and are also in untreated water. Campylobacter jejuni, the strain associated with most reported human infections, may be present in the body without causing illness.
Q: Why are we hearing more about Campylobacter?
A: During the 1980’s, public health authorities began to learn more about the prevalence of the bacteria in the environment, the illness it can cause, and laboratory techniques for identifying the bacteria. As individual states within the United States increase their reporting of illnesses to CDC, research continues on the organism and the disease.Continue Reading What is Campylobacter?

By DAN DEARTH
Staff reporter
PUT-IN-BAY — The Ohio Department of Health has scheduled a Tuesday press conference to release the “preliminary-investigational report” disclosing what caused about 1,500 people to contract gastrointestinal illness last summer on South Bass Island.
Officials from the ODH, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Ottawa County Health Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be on hand to release their findings and answer questions from noon to 2 p.m. at Put-in-Bay Village Hall.
Ottawa County Commissioner Carl Koebel said it is about time the state decided to inform the public.
“I thought they would have come up with a report sooner than they did,” Koebel said. “They had to wait for all their samples to come back.”Continue Reading State to report on P-I-B illness

1.15.2005
Raw and undercooked poultry and meat, raw milk and untreated water are sources for Campylobacter, the most common bacterial cause of diarrhea in the United States, according the U.S. Public Health Service.
But finding how these bacteria that happily co-exist with chickens and turkeys burrow their way into intestinal cells to eat and make people sick in the process should provide direction on how to stop them, say Drs. Stuart A. Thompson and Christopher M. Burns. “The basic problem with Campylobacter is that we don’t know how it causes disease,” says Dr. Thompson, who recently received his third National Institutes of Health grant to answer this question and develop a vaccine. “To understand how to treat a bacterium, you have to understand how it causes disease.”Continue Reading Finding how the fowl-borne bacteria Campylobacter jejuni makes at least a million Americans miserable for a week each year is on the plates of two Medical College of Georgia microbiologists.

14 Jan 2005
Finding how the fowl-borne bacteria Campylobacter jejuni makes at least a million Americans miserable for a week each year is on the plates of two Medical College of Georgia microbiologists.
Raw and undercooked poultry and meat, raw milk and untreated water are sources for Campylobacter, the most common bacterial cause of diarrhea in the United States, according the U.S. Public Health Service.
But finding how these bacteria that happily co-exist with chickens and turkeys burrow their way into intestinal cells to eat and make people sick in the process should provide direction on how to stop them, say Drs. Stuart A. Thompson and Christopher M. Burns.Continue Reading Research turning up the heat on fowl bacteria, Campylobacter jejuni

Bacteria affects 18 people in December at the Sturgeon Bay restaurant
By Deb Fitzgerald
For The News-Chronicle
The well water at the Mill Supper Club in Sturgeon Bay is suspected to have caused the illnesses of eight people who tested positive for campylobacter, a common bacterial cause of diarrheal sickness.
As a result of the illnesses and subsequent state and county investigations, Don and Shelly Petersilka, owners of the restaurant at the northern intersection of States 42 and 57, have opted to replace their pre-1950s well with a new one.
“I’m extremely sorry people got sick,” Don said. “Nobody feels worse about it than Shelly and I do.” The events leading to the decision to drill a new well began on four different nights in December, when 18 people at four separate dining parties became ill. Only 13 of those people had stool samples examined by a doctor. Of those who were tested, eight were positive for campylobacter, according to Rhonda Kolberg, director of the Door County Public Health Department.Continue Reading Supper club to drill new well after illnesses

22 Dec 2004
A common cause of foodborne disease from poultry products can survive refrigeration and freezing say researchers from Pennsylvania. Their findings appear in the December 2004 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Campylobacter bacteria are estimated to be responsible for 2.5 million cases of infection in the United States each year and 50% of those cases are attributed to contaminated poultry. Campylobacters are believed to achieve optimal growth in extremely warm temperatures while failing to thrive in temperatures below 86 degrees. Campylobacter jejuni appears to be the exception. Previous studies have shown a small portion able to withstand refrigeration and freezing independently, but the combined effect of both has yet to be tested.
In the study samples of ground chicken and chicken skin infected with C. jejuni were refrigerated, frozen or exposed to a combination of both. A significant portion of the bacteria were able to survive refrigerated and frozen temperatures in both ground chicken and chicken skin.Continue Reading Harmful Poultry Bacterium May Survive Refrigeration and Frozen Storage Combined

On August 29, 1996, the Jackson County Health Department (JCHD) in southwestern Oklahoma notified the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) of a cluster of Campylobacter jejuni infections that occurred during August 16-20 among persons who had eaten lunch at a local restaurant on August 15. This report summarizes the investigation of these cases and indicates that C. jejuni infection was most likely acquired from eating lettuce cross-contaminated with raw chicken. This report also emphasizes the need to keep certain foods and cooking utensils separate during food handling.
A case was defined as illness in a person who had eaten lunch at the restaurant on August 15, 1996, and had onset of diarrhea (i.e., three or more loose stools during a 24-hour period) or vomiting during August 16-20. Of 25 persons available for interview who had eaten lunch at the restaurant on August 15, a total of 14 (56%) had had an illness that met the case definition. The median age of patients was 33 years (range: 5-52 years); 10 (71%) were female. All patients reported diarrhea; 13 (93%), fever; 13 (93%), abdominal cramps; 11 (79%), nausea; five (36%), vomiting; and three (21%), visible blood in their stools. The median incubation period was 3 days (range: 1-5 days). Two (14%) patients were hospitalized. Stool specimens were collected from 10 patients; all yielded C. jejuni. No food items were available for testing.Continue Reading Outbreak of Campylobacter Enteritis Associated with Cross-Contamination of Food — Oklahoma, 1996

On September 3, 1999, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) received reports of at least 10 children hospitalized with bloody diarrhea or Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection in counties near Albany, New York. All of the children had attended the Washington County Fair, which was held August 23-29, 1999; approximately 108,000 persons attended the fair during that week. Subsequently, fair attendees infected with Campylobacter jejuni also were identified. An ongoing investigation includes heightened case-finding efforts, epidemiologic and laboratory studies, and an environmental investigation of the Washington County fairgrounds. This report presents the preliminary findings implicating contaminated well water.
To identify additional fair attendees with diarrhea, the NYSDOH issued press releases, conducted daily press briefings, and contacted emergency departments, laboratories, and infection-control practitioners by fax and telephone. Laboratories were asked to culture all diarrheal stool specimens for E. coli O157:H7 and subsequently for Campylobacter spp.Continue Reading Public Health Dispatch: Outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Campylobacter Among Attendees of the Washington County Fair — New York, 1999