October 20, 1997
Web posted at: 9:04 p.m. EDT (0104 GMT)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A germ that may
sicken and sometimes kill people who
eat undercooked chicken or turkey is
becoming more common and is
developing resistance to antibiotics,
scientists say.
Estimates put the number of cases of the disease caused by
campylobacter at 2 million to 8 million a year in the United States
and deaths at 200 to 800, according to The New York Times, which
reported on the germ in its Monday editions.
The illness usually lasts about a week and its symptoms include
cramps, abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea and fever. It can be as
severe as the disease caused by salmonella, another germ found
in undercooked poultry, but causes fewer fatalities, according to
Dr. Bert Bartleson of Washington state's health department.
"Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of diarrhea
in this country with an estimated 2 million cases a year," said Dr.
Robert Tauke of the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Recent research also suggests that
campylobacter may lead to the
severe and sometime fatal nerve
damage caused by Guillain-Barre
syndrome. About 20 percent to 40
percent of the 5,000 cases a year of
Guillain-Barre syndrome follow a bout of campylobacter infection.
Researchers say the campylobacter germ infects 70 percent to 90
percent of all chickens. That's a higher estimate than one issued
six years ago by the CDC, which then said 30 percent to 70
percent of chickens carried it.
The use of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones to treat the
infection in chickens has created strains of drug-resistant
campylobacter in humans.
"Since 1995, with the licensing of fluoroquinolones for use in
chickens, levels of drug-resistant campylobacter in humans has
gone up dramatically," said Dr. Michael Osterholm of the
Minnesota Health Department.
Osterholm's department randomly sampled poultry in Minnesota
supermarkets and found 70 percent of chickens were
contaminated with the germ; of those, 20 percent had the
drug-resistant strain.
For turkeys, 58 percent were contaminated and 84 percent of those
had the drug-resistant strain.
In a fax to CNN, the National Broiler Council said, "It appears the
use of the drug in the poultry industry is quite limited so far.
Speculation about its impact is not based on extensive experience
in actual use."
Scientists believe the public is more aware of salmonella than the
more widespread campylobacter because the latter is hard to
pronounce and spell and there is no simple laboratory test to
detect it.
"The public doesn't know any of this. We were bemoaning the fact
that campylobacter hasn't received the attention it should have,"
Dr. Martin Blaser told the Times. Blaser, an expert in research on
the link between campylobacter and Guillain-Barre syndrome, is
director of the division of infectious disease at the Vanderbilt
University School of Medicine.
For both campylobacter and salmonella, the safety advice is the
same: Cook poultry thoroughly, and carefully wash anything that
has come into contact with raw poultry or its juices.
The Times reported that while poultry is the main source of the
germ, there are other causes. They are unpasteurized milk,
untreated water, and, in 5 to 10 percent of the cases, contact with
the feces of pets carrying the bacteria.
Federal regulations to cut disease-causing bacteria in beef and
poultry say nothing about the need to reduce the contaminant in
poultry, the Times said.
Correspondent Linda Ciampa and The Associated Press
contributed to this report.