Consumption of chicken and cornish game hen were both associated with more than a doubling of the risk of CJC enteritis: for chicken (relative risk = 2.4, 95% CI = 1.6-3.6), and for game hen, (RR = 3.3, 95% CI = 1.1-9.8). The consumption of raw or rare chicken was even more strongly associated (RR = 7.6, 95% CI = 2.1-27.6). Strains of CJC bearing R factors for tetracycline were

The authors investigated 50 Yersinia enterocolitica infections during an outbreak of illness due to contaminated tofu (soybean curd) in Washington State between December 15, 1981 and February 22, 1982. The most common clinical syndrome (36 patients) was gastrointestinal infection for which two patients underwent appendectomies and one a partial colectomy. Of the remaining 14 patients, six had extraintestinal infections, two had fever alone, and six were asymptomatic. The patients with enteric infections were younger (median age three years) than those with extraintestinal infections (median age 28 years). In a case-control study of enteritis patients, illness was associated with ingestion of one brand of tofu (p less than 0.01). Ninety-two per cent of patients with gastrointestinal infections and 33% with extraintestinal infections recalled having eaten the implicated product. Y. enterocolitica serotype O:8, the most common serotype isolated from patients, was also isolated from tofu and the plant's untreated spring water. There was little clinical or laboratory evidence of secondary spread to family members who did not eat tofu. The outbreak demonstrates the transmission of Y. enterocolitica from nature to man and the potential of "natural" foods as vehicles for environmental pathogens.

To determine the role of animals as possible sources for human infection with Campylobacter jejuni/coli, 218 human cases of Campylobacter enteritis diagnosed among members of Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, King County, Washington, from April 1982 through September 1983 were compared with 526 controls, randomly selected from Group Health Cooperative members. All subjects were questioned regarding animal exposures one week prior to illness (cases) or interview (controls). There was no increase in risk for C. jejuni/coli enteritis associated with contact with various animals. However, exposure to diarrheic animals was associated with a fourfold increase in the risk of C. jejuni/coli enteritis (odds ratio = 4.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.9-9.7). Adjustment for potential confounding factors by logistic regression analysis yielded an odds ratio of 3.3 (95% CI 1.2-7.5) associated with such exposure. An estimated 6.3% of cases of C. jejuni/coli enteritis was attributed to exposure to diarrheic animals.

A total of 112 white females residents of King County, Washington, aged 35-54 years, who had received a first diagnosis of invasive breast cancer between July 1977 add August 1978, were investigated concerning prior use of oral contraceptives. Their responses were compared with those of a random sample of 469 demographically comparable women from the same population. Overall, oral contraceptive use in cases and controls was similar. However, use of oral contraceptives in preparous women was more common among cases than controls, with the estimated risk of breast cancer associated with such use being 2.2 times that of nonusers (90% confidence interval = 1.1-4.6). This relationship could be explained only in part by the effect of oral contraceptives in postponing or preventing childbirth. The association of breast cancer with use of oral contraceptives prior to ever giving birth has been observed in three studies, including this one, suggesting that the susceptibility of breast tissue to hormonal factors that influence the development of malignancy may be altered by having been exposed to the events of pregnancy.