Campylobacter Watch

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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…

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.Continue Reading Campylobacter found in most chickens

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.Continue Reading Panel hears pro, cons of raw milk

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.Continue Reading Zooming in on the Campylobacter that would resist antibiotics

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…

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.Continue Reading Study: Antibiotics in food cause drug resistance in us

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.Continue Reading Searching for clues to NZ tummy trouble

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…

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.Continue Reading The roasted bird gets a temperature reprieve

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.Continue Reading Benefits from limiting animal antibiotics