Campylobacter Watch

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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.”Continue Reading Caregiving: School food illness

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.…

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…

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.Continue Reading KFC fined for undercooked chicken

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.Continue Reading School admits offal eating

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.Continue Reading Salad E. coli recall threatens lucrative market

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.Continue Reading School contests give children food poisoning

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.Continue Reading Do you know what’s on your plate?

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.Continue Reading Campylobacter rises as culprit for foodborne gastroenteritis

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.Continue Reading Poultry’s Persistence Problem – Drug-Resistant Campylobacter in Chicken