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Risk perception of foodborne pathogens
Published in Charlotte Fabiansson, Stefan Fabiansson, Food and the Risk Society, 2016
Charlotte Fabiansson, Stefan Fabiansson
Most people who become ill with campylobacteriosis get diarrhoea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever within two to five days after exposure to the organism. Foodborne illness caused by campylobacter can be severely debilitating, but it is rarely life threatening. The diarrhoea may be bloody and can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. The illness typically lasts about one week. On rare occasions there are long term consequences of this infection, called sequelae, beginning several weeks after the diarrheal illness. People can develop arthritis; others develop a rare disease called the Guillain-Barré syndrome. The Guillain-Barré syndrome affects the nerves of the body and it leads to paralysis, which requires intensive medical care. It is estimated that approximately one in every 1,000 reported campylobacteriosis cases leads to the Guillain-Barré syndrome (Humphrey et al. 2007).
Pathogens and their removal
Published in Nick F. Gray, Water Science and Technology: An Introduction, 2017
Campylobacter is a major cause of gastroenteritis, being more common than Salmonella, although it was linked to gastroenteritis only in 1977 (Percival and Williams, 2014d). In the United States, the annual incidence of this organism is between 30 and 60 per 100,000 of the population. In developing countries, outbreaks of Campylobacter enteritis are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the first 2 years of life. While Campylobacter enteritis is essentially a foodborne disease, with the most important reservoirs of the bacterium being meat, in particular poultry, and unpasteurized milk, waterborne transmission has been implicated in several large outbreaks. Waterborne transmission of Campylobacter occurs in untreated, contaminated waters, in situations where faulty disinfection has occurred or where waters have been contaminated by sewage or animal wastes. Household pets, farm animals and birds are all known to be the carriers of the disease. There is a definite seasonal variation in numbers of Campylobacter in river water, with the greatest numbers occurring in the autumn and winter. Campylobacter jejuni serotypes are common in human infections and especially common downstream of sewage effluent sites, confirming sewage effluents as important sources of C. jejuni in the aquatic environment. Gulls are known carriers and can contaminate water supply reservoirs while they roost. Dog faeces in particular are rich in the bacterium, making contamination of surface waters used for abstraction by surface (urban) run-off an important source of contamination. Campylobacter can remain viable for extended periods in streams and groundwaters. Survival of the bacterium decreases with increasing temperature but with survival at 4°C in excess of 12 months.
The influence of society on the UK's food and food regulatory systems
Published in Stephen Battersby, Clay's Handbook of Environmental Health, 2023
Campylobacter – is a common cause of diarrhoea. Most cases of campylobacteriosis, the infection caused by Campylobacter bacteria, are associated with eating raw or undercooked poultry and meat or from cross-contamination of other foods by these items. Freezing reduces the number of Campylobacter bacteria on raw meat but will not kill them completely, so proper heating of foods is important. Campylobacteriosis occurs more frequently in the summer and is most common in infants and young children.
Overview of methodologies for the culturing, recovery and detection of Campylobacter
Published in International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2023
Marcela Soto-Beltrán, Bertram G. Lee, Bianca A. Amézquita-López, Beatriz Quiñones
Most Campylobacter human infections are treated with body fluid replacement and maintenance of electrolyte balance, but antimicrobial treatment is required for severe cases, such as a febrile patient with bloody stool. Antibiotic treatment with macrolides is the predominant choice followed by fluoroquinolones (Whitehouse et al. 2018). Macrolides have been shown to inhibit protein synthesis by binding to the ribosome and changing its conformation. The most common mechanism of resistance is mutations of the 23S rRNA and modification of the target site by methylation through the erm(B) gene. However, resistance against macrolides in C. jejuni is not commonly observed since the resistant strains have a reduced fitness and colonization of the chicken host when compared to susceptible C. jejuni strains. Increased use of macrolides has been associated with a species-specific shift in chicken colonization by favoring colonization by C. coli when compared to C. jejuni (Whitehouse et al. 2018). Traditionally, fluoroquinolones have been the treatment of choice; however, increased resistance to these agents is associated with their extensive use reducing their effectiveness. These agents target the DNA gyrase to inhibit DNA synthesis, and modification of the quinolone target site, the quinolone resistance-determining region of gyrase A (gyrA), is the predominant resistance mechanism of fluoroquinolones in Campylobacter.
A six-year epidemiological surveillance study in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia: urban versus rural differences in human campylobacteriosis incidence
Published in International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2018
Merica Carev, Marija Tonkić, Nataša Boban
Campylobacteriosis is a leading foodborne infection worldwide, associated with long-term complications, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease (Strachan et al. 2013b). After stable or declining trends in several countries during the 2000s, the incidence of Campylobacter infection in the European Union (EU) and United States (US) has significantly increased since 2012 (CDC 2013, EFSA and ECDC 2014), the reasons for which are not completely understood. Environmental factors, human demographics, and behaviour significantly influence disease incidence and patterns (Strachan et al. 2013b). Although contaminated food is the most common route of Campylobacter transmission, the pathogen is also present in domestic and wild animals, as well as birds (Mughini Gras et al. 2012), and contamination by animal faeces presents an alternative exposure pathway for human infection (Fitzenberger et al. 2010). In developed countries, differences in Campylobacter infection rates vary substantially according to region (Olson et al. 2008; Fitzenberger et al. 2010). A marked seasonality in Campylobacter incidence is ubiquitous, with regional variations highlighting complex environment–pathogen–host interactions (Olson et al. 2008; Lal et al. 2012). Insight to the regional variations in patterns is important because targeted ecological, microbiological, and epidemiological investigations may clarify causal mechanisms driving seasonality and disease emergence. This could improve existing disease surveillance methods, generate appropriate prevention strategies, and enhance cross-border cooperation (Lal et al. 2012).