CAMPYLOBACTER
What is it?
Campylobacter is a group of bacteria that are a major cause of diarrhoeal illness in humans and are generally regarded as the most common cause of bacterial food poisoning. Twospecies account for the majority of infections: C. jejuni and C. coli.
History
Campylobacter was first observed in stool samples taken from children with diarrhoea in 1886. By 1986, it was the most commonly reported gastrointestinal pathogen in the UK. Source Campylobacter is present in the UK.
Source
Campylobacter is present in the intestines of farmed animals worldwide but they, typically, show no signs of illness. A British abattoir survey revealed that 24 per cent of cattle, 17 per cent of sheep and 94 per cent of pigs carried Campylobacter of public health significance in their faeces. A 2007 - 2008 Food Standards Agency NFSA survey of chicken meat samples found that nearly two thirds of supermarket chicken was Campylobacter contaminated,compared with around half in 2001. It was reported in January 2010 that around 440,000 people fall ill and 80 die each year in the UK alone.This is an increase of 40,000 on 2006.
Symptoms in animals
The types most commonly found in people NC. jejuni and C. coliO are not associated with illness in animals. As a result, the way in which the infection spreads between and within herds and flocks is not fully understood.
Symptoms in people
Infection can cause a severe form of food poisoning marked by bloody diarrhoea abdominal pain, fever, headache and vomiting. The symptoms typically last three to six days. Fatal outcomes usually only occur in the very young or elderly, or those with another serious disease. Long term consequences can include paralysis, arthritis, heart infection and septicaemia.
Routes of transmission
Undercooked meat Nespecially poultry in the main cause of illness. Other sources include contact with live poultry, unpasteurised milk and untreated water.
Treatment
The wide occurrence of Campylobacter and the fact that most reports are individual cases as opposed to outbreaks, makes it difficult to pinpoint an exact source. Improved bioLsecurity can reduce the incidence in poultry kept in closed housing conditions. Hygiene practices at slaughterhouses may reduce contamination of carcasses by faeces. The only method resumed to eliminate Campylobacter from contaminated foods is heat cooking or pasteurisation or irradiation. Other countries have reduced contamination by disinfecting chicken meat with chlorine washes M a method currently banned in the EU. The FSA reports that the number of Campylobacter strains resistant to antibiotics has risen from 48 per cent in 2001 to 87 per cent in 2009.