|
|
occupational health & safety /wsu animal contact program
campylobacter
Frequently Asked Questions
What is
campylobacteriosis?
How common is
campylobacter?
What sort of germ is
campylobacter?
How is the
infection diagnosed?
How can
campylobacteriosis be treated?
Are there long-term
consequences?
How do people get
infected with this germ?
How does food or
water get contaminated with campylobacter?
What can be done to
prevent the infection?
Some tips for
preventing campylobacteriosis.
What are public
health agencies doing to prevent or control campylobacteriosis?
What is campylobacteriosis?
Campylobacteriosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria of the genus campylobacter. Most
people who become ill with campylobacteriosis get diarrhea, cramping, abdominal
pain, and fever within 2 to 5 days after exposure to the organism. The diarrhea
may be bloody and can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. The illness
typically lasts 1 week. Some persons who are infected with campylobacter don't
have any symptoms at all. In persons with compromised immune systems,
campylobacter occasionally spreads to the bloodstream and causes a serious
life-threatening infection.
How common is campylobacter?
Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of diarrheal illness in the United States.
Virtually all cases occur as isolated, sporadic events, not as a part of large
outbreaks. Even though surveillance is very limited, over 10,000 cases are
reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year,
equaling approximately six cases for each 100,000 persons in the population.
Many more cases go undiagnosed or unreported, and campylobacteriosis is
estimated to affect over 2 million persons every year, or 1% of the population.
campylobacteriosis occurs much more frequently in the summer months than in the
winter. The organism is isolated from infants and young adults more frequently
than from other age groups and from males more frequently than females. Although
campylobacter doesn't commonly cause death, it has been estimated that
approximately 500 persons with campylobacter infections may die each year.
What sort of germ is campylobacter?
The campylobacter organism is actually a group of spiral-shaped bacteria that can cause disease in
humans and animals. Most human illness is caused by one species, called
campylobacter jejuni, but 1% of human campylobacter cases are caused by other
species. campylobacter jejuni grows best at the body temperature of a bird, and
seems to be well adapted to birds, who carry it without becoming ill. The
bacterium is fragile. It cannot tolerate drying and can be killed by oxygen. It
grows only if there is less than the atmospheric amount of oxygen present.
Freezing reduces the number of campylobacter bacteria present on raw meat.
How is the infection diagnosed?
Many different kinds of infections can cause diarrhea and bloody diarrhea. Doctors can look for
bacterial causes of diarrhea by asking a laboratory to culture a sample of stool
from an ill person. Diagnosis of campylobacter requires special laboratory
culture procedures, which doctors may need to specifically request.
How can campylobacteriosis be treated?
Virtually all persons infected with campylobacter will recover without any specific treatment.
Patients should drink plenty of fluids as long as the diarrhea lasts. In more
severe cases, antibiotics such as erythromycin or a fluoroquinolone can be used,
and can shorten the duration of symptoms if they are given early in the illness.
Your doctor will make the decision about whether antibiotics are
necessary.
Are there long-term consequences?
Most people who get campylobacteriosis recover completely within 2 to 5 days, although sometimes
recovery can take up to 10 days.
Rarely, some long-term consequences can result from a campylobacter
infection. Some people may have arthritis following campylobacteriosis; others
may develop a rare disease that affects the nerves of the body beginning several
weeks after the diarrheal illness. This disease, called Guillan-Barré syndrome,
occurs when a person's immune system is "triggered" to attack the body's own
nerves, and can lead to paralysis that lasts several weeks and usually requires
intensive care. It is estimated that approximately one in every 1000 reported
campylobacteriosis cases leads to Guillan-Barré syndrome. As many as 40% of
Guillan-Barré syndrome cases in this country may be triggered by
campylobacteriosis.
How do people get infected with this germ?
Campylobacteriosis usually occurs in single, sporadic cases, but it can also occur in outbreaks,
when a number of people become ill at one time. Most cases of campylobacteriosis
are associated with handling raw poultry or eating raw or undercooked poultry
meat. A very small number of campylobacter organisms (fewer than 500) can cause
illness in humans. Even one drop of juice from raw chicken meat can infect a
person. One way to become infected is to cut poultry meat on a cutting board,
and then use the unwashed cutting board or utensil to prepare vegetables or
other raw or lightly cooked foods. The campylobacter organisms from the raw meat
can then spread to the other foods. The organism is not usually spread from
person to person, but this can happen if the infected person is a small child or
is producing a large volume of diarrhea. Larger outbreaks due to campylobacter
are not usually associated with raw poultry but are usually related to drinking
unpasteurized milk or contaminated water. Animals can also be infected, and some
people have acquired their infection from contact with the infected stool of an
ill dog or cat.
How does food or water get contaminated with
campylobacter?
Many chicken flocks are silently infected with campylobacter; that is, the chickens are
infected with the organism but show no signs of illness. campylobacter can be
easily spread from bird to bird through a common water source or through contact
with infected feces. When an infected bird is slaughtered, campylobacter can be
transferred from the intestines to the meat. More than half of the raw chicken
in the United States market has campylobacter on it. campylobacter is also
present in the giblets, especially the liver.
Unpasteurized milk can become contaminated if the cow has an infection with
campylobacter in her udder or the milk is contaminated with manure. Surface
water and mountain streams can become contaminated from infected feces from cows
or wild birds. This infection is common in the developing world, and travelers
to foreign countries are also at risk for becoming infected with campylobacter.
What can be done to prevent the infection?
There are some simple food handling practices for preventing campylobacter infections.
Physicians who diagnose campylobacteriosis and clinical laboratories that
identify this organism should report their findings to the local health
department. If many cases occur at the same time, it may mean that many people
were exposed to a common contaminated food item or water source which might
still be available to infect more people. When outbreaks occur, community
education efforts can be directed at proper food handling techniques, especially
thorough cooking of all poultry and other foods of animal origin, and common
sense kitchen hygiene practices.
Some data suggest that campylobacter can spread through a chicken flock in
their drinking water. Providing clean, chlorinated water sources for the
chickens might prevent campylobacter infections in poultry flocks and thereby
decrease the amount of contaminated meat reaching the market place.
Some Tips for Preventing
campylobacteriosis
- Cook all poultry products thoroughly. Make sure that the meat is cooked throughout (no longer
pink), any juices run clear, and the inside is cooked to 170oF (77oC) for
breast meat, and 180oF (82oC) for thigh meat.
- If you are served undercooked poultry in a restaurant, send it back for further cooking.
- Wash hands with soap before handling raw foods of animal origin.
- Wash hands with soap after handling raw foods of animal origin and before touching anything
else.
- Prevent cross-contamination in the kitchen:
- use separate cutting boards for foods of animal origin and other foods.
- carefully clean all cutting boards, countertops and utensils with soap and hot water
after preparing raw food of animal origin.
- Avoid consuming unpasteurized milk and untreated surface water.
- Make sure that persons with diarrhea, especially children, wash their hands carefully and
frequently with soap to reduce the risk of spreading the infection.
- Wash hands with soap after having contact with pet feces.
What are public health agencies doing to
prevent or control campylobacteriosis?
To learn more about how campylobacter causes disease and is spread, CDC began a national
surveillance program in 1982. A more detailed active surveillance system was
instituted in 1996; this will provide more information on how often this disease
occurs and what the risk factors are for getting it. CDC is also making an
effort to inform the public about campylobacteriosis and ways to avoid getting
this disease. The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts research on how to
prevent the infection in chickens. The Food and Drug Administration has produced
the Model Food Code, which could decrease the risk of contaminated chicken being
served in commercial food establishments.
This information provided from:
NCID Page Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases Homepage
The
Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases
National Center for Infectious
Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Updated: 05/28/98 13:59:33
URL:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/bacter/campyfaq.htm
Return to Zoonotic Disease
Page
URL: http://www.ehs.wsu.edu/campy.htm
|
Revised
02/22/02
Reviewed
10/26/06
|
