Barbecued Chicken Causing a Multi-State Outbreak of Campylobacter jejuni Enteritis

Allerberger, Franz; Al-Jazrawi, N.; Kreidl, Peter; Dierich, M P; Feierl, Gebhard; Hein, Ingeborg; Wagner, Martin

doi:10.1007/s15010-002-3088-8

Cited by 38 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(8 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Outbreak investigations and case-control studies on Campylobacter have identified consumption and handling of raw chicken as key risk factors for human illness (3,19). Paté dishes from meat have been associated with a range of microbial pathogens, including Salmonella (52), Listeria spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Campylobacter Immunity and Coinfection following a Large Outbreak in a Farming Community

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An outbreak of campylobacteriosis affected approximately one-half of 165 people attending an annual farmers' dance in Montrose, Scotland, in November 2005. Epidemiological investigations, including a cohort study (n ‫؍‬ 164), identified chicken liver paté as the most likely vehicle of infection. Paté preparation involved deliberate undercooking of chicken livers by flash-frying, followed by mechanical homogenization. Typing of 32 Campylobacter strains (isolated from submitted stools) by multilocus sequence typing identified four distinct clades of Campylobacter jejuni. There was good agreement when isolates were typed by Penner serotyping, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and flaA short variable region sequencing but poorer agreement with phage and antibiotic susceptibility testing. At least three attendees were coinfected with two Campylobacter strains each. The outbreak was probably due to several livers contributing Campylobacter strains that survived undercooking and were dispersed throughout the paté. The study highlights improper culinary procedures as a potential human health risk and provides a striking counterexample to the "dominant outbreak strain" view of point source outbreaks of food-borne infections. It also demonstrates that previous exposure to biologically plausible sources of Campylobacter may confer protection against subsequent infection.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Campylobacter Immunity and Coinfection following a Large Outbreak in a Farming Community

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Raw milk, untreated surface water, and poultry have all been well documented as sources of Campylobacter outbreaks (1,8,22,23,28,32,33,37,39,42,49). Nevertheless, most clinical cases appear as isolated, sporadic infections for which the source is rarely identified (6).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermotolerant Coliforms Are Not a Good Surrogate for Campylobacter spp. in Environmental Water

St-Pierre

Lévesque

Frost

et al. 2009

Appl Environ Microbiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study aimed to assess the importance of quantitatively detecting Campylobacter spp. in environmental surface water. The prevalence and the quantity of Campylobacter spp., thermotolerant coliforms, and Escherichia coli in 2,471 samples collected weekly, over a 2-year period, from 13 rivers and 12 streams in the Eastern Townships, Québec, Canada, were determined. Overall, 1,071 (43%), 1,481 (60%), and 1,463 (59%) samples were positive for Campylobacter spp., thermotolerant coliforms, and E. coli, respectively. There were weak correlations between the weekly distributions of Campylobacter spp. and thermotolerant coliforms (Spearman's coefficient ‫؍‬ 0.27; P ‫؍‬ 0.008) and between the quantitative levels of the two classes of organisms (Kendall tau-b correlation coefficient ‫؍‬ 0.233; P < 0.0001). Well water samples from the Eastern Townships were also tested. Five (10%) of 53 samples from private surface wells were positive for Campylobacter jejuni, of which only 2 were positive for thermotolerant coliforms. These findings suggest that microbial monitoring of raw water by using only fecal indicator organisms is not sufficient for assessing the occurrence or the load of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. Insights into the role of environmental water as sources for sporadic Campylobacter infection will require genus-specific monitoring techniques.

show abstract

“…Currently, identified high-risk factors include the consumption of chicken, especially when undercooked (15), barbecued meat (2), and raw or improperly pasteurized milk (10,22). In all of these cases, the infecting Campylobacter population would have been exposed to both low and high temperatures before being consumed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Response ofCampylobacter jejunito Low Temperature Differs from That ofEscherichia coli

Hughes

Hallett

Cogan

et al. 2009

Appl Environ Microbiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human infection with Campylobacter jejuni is often associated with the consumption of foods that have been exposed to both chilling and high temperatures. Despite the public health importance of this pathogen, little is known about the effects of cold exposure on its ability to survive a subsequent heat challenge. This work examined the effect of rapid exposure to chilling, as would occur in poultry processing, on the heat resistance at 56°C of two C. jejuni strains, 11168 and 2097e48, and of Escherichia coli K-12. Unlike E. coli K-12, whose cold-exposed cells showed increased sensitivity to 56°C, such exposure had only a marginal effect on subsequent heat resistance in C. jejuni. This may be explained by the finding that during rapid chilling, unlike E. coli cells, C. jejuni cells are unable to alter their fatty acid composition and do not adapt to cold exposure. However, their unaltered fatty acid composition is more suited to survival when cells are exposed to high temperatures. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that in C. jejuni, the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids was not significantly different after cold exposure, but it was in E. coli. The low-temperature response of C. jejuni is very different from that of other food-borne pathogens, and this may contribute to its tolerance to further heat stresses.

show abstract

Barbecued Chicken Causing a Multi-State Outbreak of Campylobacter jejuni Enteritis

Cited by 38 publications

References 9 publications

Campylobacter Immunity and Coinfection following a Large Outbreak in a Farming Community

Campylobacter Immunity and Coinfection following a Large Outbreak in a Farming Community

Thermotolerant Coliforms Are Not a Good Surrogate for Campylobacter spp. in Environmental Water

The Response ofCampylobacter jejunito Low Temperature Differs from That ofEscherichia coli

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About