Campylobacter Blog

Consuming Raw Milk Is "A Risk Factor For Infection With Pathogenic Bacteria"

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Lawyer) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:35:51 -0800

In a July 1 letter that appeared in the Stillwater News Press titled, "Know the Facts," Director of the Food Safety Division for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Stan Stromberg, explained the milk pasteurization process:

In the High Temperature/Short Time process, which is typically used in milk pasteurization, the milk is forced between metal plates or through pipes heated on the outside by hot water, and is heated to 161 degrees F for 15 to 20 seconds, followed by quick cooling to about 39 degrees.

This process does not add any ingredient to the milk and it certainly does not add formaldehyde, which is considered to be carcinogenic.

This process is designed to achieve a 5-log reduction, killing 99.999 percent of the viable microorganisms in milk.

Mr. Stromberg writes, "I would suggest that before anyone makes a decision to consume raw milk, they should thoroughly research this issue and make a rational decision on a scientific basis and not on an unfounded emotional basis."

Consuming raw milk and other unpasteurized dairy products made from raw milk is an established risk factor for infection with pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and Campylobacter. E. coli and other pathogens are shed in the feces of livestock such as cows and goats and can contaminate milk during the milking process. Although practicing standard hygiene such as washing hands and keeping equipment clean can lower the potential for contamination, pasteurization is seen as the most effective treatment for reducing the number of E. coli and other contaminants found in milk.

Licensing or certifying dairies to sell raw milk does not guarantee that a safe product will be produced. Laws regulating the sale of raw milk were passed in the early 20th century, and in what proved to be a major public health success in the United States, the percentage of all food and water-borne outbreaks attributable to milk products dropped from 25 percent in 1938 to about 1 percent by 2005. Today, it is a violation of federal law to sell raw milk packaged for consumer use across state lines (interstate commerce), but each state regulates the sale of raw milk within its own state lines (intrastate).

In Washington, all raw milk product packaging must include the following warning: “WARNING: This product has not been pasteurized and may contain harmful bacteria. Pregnant women, children, the elderly and persons with lowered resistance to disease have the highest risk of harm from use of this product.” Rules for producing raw milk products in Washington are online, courtesy of the Washington Department of Agriculture.

Raw Milk's Danger Jumps Out of CDC's Report On 2006 Food Outbreaks

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:12:08 -0800

Americans food habits are changing. We drink less milk and eat more cheese. We drink a lot less milk than most places in Europe and more than most do in Asia.

Still, when our total annual per capita consumption amounts to something north of 22 gallons of milk, more than 35 pounds of cheese, and 2.1 pounds of butter; there is just one thing to say. We should all toast at least one glass a year to Louis Pasteur, the French chemist and microbiologist, who invented Pasteurization to make both milk--and yes wine--safe for us to drink.

For while only a tiny fraction of the milk we consume is "raw" or unpasteurized; it is raw milk that continues to deliver a menu of pathogens including Campylobacter that are good only for making people sick, and possibility dead.

More evidence of raw milk's danger comes in the current issue of the Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) that looks all the 2006 data the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) has collected on food-borne disease outbreaks (FBDOs) from all states and territories through the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (FBDSS).

This report, according to CDC, summarizes epidemiologic data on FBDOs reported during 2006 (the most recent year for which data have been analyzed). A total of 1,270 FBDOs were reported, resulting in 27,634 cases and 11 deaths.

Dairy commodities, which we assume are milk, cheese and butter, accounted for only three percent of the single source outbreaks in 2006. That translates into 16 outbreaks responsible for 193 food-borne illness cases.

Of those dairy outbreak cases, 71 percent were attributed to unpasteurized raw milk. Raw milk was responsible for ten outbreaks that made 137 sick. “A wide range of bacterial pathogens was associated with the raw milk outbreaks, including Campylobacter (six outbreaks), STEC (E. coli) 0157:H7 (two outbreaks), Salmonella (one outbreak), and Listeria (one outbreak), resulting in 11 hospitalizations and one death," CDC reports.

Raw milk drinkers, say it ain't so!

Meridian Bioscience Says It Has A New Test For Campylobacter With Results In About 20 Minutes

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:23:39 -0800

Medical diagnostic test kit maker Meridian Bioscience, Inc. yesterday said it has obtained Food and Drug Administration clearance for its novel rapid test, ImmunoCard STAT! CAMPY to detect Campylobacter.

Campylobacter bacteria is one of the common causes of diarrhea and food-borne illness in the U.S, where about 20 million stool culture tests are done every year to diagnose Campylobacteriosis.

Meridian said that ImmunoCard STAT! CAMPY, by means of a simple procedure, could provide results in 20 minutes. The testing technique is also free from the problems associated with the presently used method of culture testing.

For more, check this out.

Chile Studies Campylobacter Contamination In Slaughterhouse Chickens

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:02:44 -0800

On average, slaughterhouse chickens were contaminated with thermotolerant Campylobacter 54 percent of the time, according to a recent poultry study in Chile. Two poultry slaughterhouses were included in the study. One had a 72 percent contamination rate, while campylobacter was found 36 percent of the time in the other.

"Our findings indicate that chilling process has a limited effect in the final products Campylobacter contamination because poultry enter the slaughter processing with high counts of contamination. This may represent a health risk to consumers, if proper cooking practices are not employed. The levels and frequencies of Campylobacter found during the processing of Chilean poultry appear to be similar to those reported elsewhere in the world," BMC Microbiology quoted the researchers as saying.

A copy of the provisional report can be found here.

UK Chicken Industry Looking At How To Cut The Amount Of Campylobacter In Half By 2010

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Lawyer) — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:41:58 -0800

When you are standing at the poultry counter trying to decide which package of chicken breasts to buy, does it ever cross your mind to think about how old the bird was when it was axed?

Didn't think so. Well, the good folks at British Poultry are giving that a lot of thought.

The European Union wants to cut the amount of Campylobacter in chickens. That has British Poultry looking hard at the issue.

Research data shows that chicks are campylobacter free for the first two or three weeks of their life. Professor Diane Newell says one option for UK's poultry industry would be to move forward the time of slaughter for chickens, which is the current practice in Scandinavia.

Professor Newell has also found that a 30 percent reduction in the risk to the consumer can be achieved with only a small reduction in the numbers of campylobacter on chicken carcasses.

UK 's poultry and meat sector is tackling campylobacter with a target of halving it by 2010 in British retail chicken. For more on how the UK broiler industry is dealing with the future EU targets, go here.

Follow-Up On Green Party's Campylobacter Expert Candidate: She Lost

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Wed, 13 May 2009 07:58:54 -0800

Sarah Svensson, the Ph D candidate who is an expert in Campylobacter and who was running as a Green Party candidate in British Columbia, lost.

She received 854 votes with a total of 12,731 ballots being cast in Columbia River-Revelstoke. The district easily re-elected the NDP's Norm Macdonald to his second term. He bested BC Liberal Party candidate Mark McKee, 7,043 to 4,834.

Ms. Svensson, according to the Green Party's website "is currently completing her doctorate in microbiology at UBC, where she studies the molecular biology of Campylobacter, a food-bourne bacterial pathogen. She hopes to continue researching infectious diseases that are the by-product of environmental and social change - complex diseases with difficult solutions."

We wish her better luck with that than she had in her short political career.

British Columbia (BC) Green Candidate Is Ph D Candidate In Molecular Biology Of Campylobacter

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Mon, 04 May 2009 08:51:45 -0800

We do not usually follow politics on this blog. Nor are we any kind of experts about elections in British Columbia. Who has a chance, and who does not---well, those are questions you are going to have to get answered elsewhere.

Nevertheless, we think its worth noting that one of the Green Party candidates running in the upcoming May 12th BC elections from Columbia River-Revelstoke is an expert in Campylobacter.

The candidate we speak of is Sarah Svensson. The Green Party website says she "is currently completing her doctorate in microbiology at UBC, where she studies the molecular biology of Campylobacter, a food-bourne bacterial pathogen. She hopes to continue researching infectious diseases that are the by-product of environmental and social change - complex diseases with difficult solutions."

Whether she is serious about running for the job in Victoria is clearly on the mind of the local newspaper in Revelstoke. It reported: "The Times Review has made several attempts to contact Svensson starting on April 21, including phoning numbers provided on the Green Party of BC website and by email, but was unable to reach the candidate by press time."

Ms. Svensson might also be focused on that Ph d about now! We will try and let you know how she does come election day.

The BC Greens can be found here, and the Revelstoke Times Review story here.

New Zealand Studies Its Most Prevalent Notifiable Disease--Campylobacter

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:36:34 -0800

New Zealand's South Canterbury is on many dream vacation lists. The area between the Conway and Waitaki rivers and what New Zealand calls its Southern Alps to the west, the area's many attractions are anything if not inviting.

The tourist brochures for Christchurch and other places in South Canterbury, however, do not mention the fact that this big area of New Zealand has more than its share of Campylobacter. The Timaru Herald reports:

Campylobacter continues to be the most prevalent notifiable disease in South Canterbury and there is a study under way to find out why.

Statistics from South Canterbury District Health Board show in March there were seven cases of campylobacter in Timaru, three in the Mackenzie district and two in Waimate.

There have been no known outbreaks or obvious connection between the cases, medical officer of health Daniel Williams said.

New Zealand sees 10,000 cases of Campylobacter each year. Three years ago, 970 hospital admissions were attributed to the disease. Williams said the long incubation period often makes it difficult to link to the cause.

For more from NZ, go here.

Raw Milk Is Giving People Campylobacter On Colorado's Western Slope

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:07:50 -0800

Raw milk has struck again, this time in western Colorado where at several people are suffering campylobacter poisoning. The Kinikin Corner Dairy in Montrose, CO has been ordered to cease and desist from distributing raw milk to the public, including its so-called "shareholders."

Raw milk traced to Kinikin, where the poison-producing cows come with cute little names, has made at least eight people sick, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The state says 10 of the 11 confirmed cases of campylobacter since March 30th are linked to drinking raw milk, and eight of those have admitted their raw milk pusher is the Kinikin Dairy.

The diary was order to stop sales late yesterday afternoon.

Campylobacter is often spread through cow feces and if contaminated fecal matter gets into water or milk, humans can get sick.

The Montrose dairy farm gives all the details of how it gets around those little legal prohibitions against selling raw milk to the public on its website here.

One of Nation's Top Dietitians And Authors Says Raw Milk Is NOT Safe

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:57:19 -0800

Raw milk can be a host to a wide array of pathogens, including but not limited to, staphylococcus aureus, campylobacter jejuni, E. coli, listeria monocytogenes and yesinia enterocolitica. The incidence of infection varies worldwide and not all cases of illness are serious enough to be reported. Since 1998, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 831 illnesses, 66 hospitalizations and 1 death associated with raw milk. As recently as January 2009, a research study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Disease stated unpasteurized (raw) milk is a continued public health threat.

The writer is Jo-Ann Heslin, the dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with 12 current titles and sales in excess of 7 million books. Her words are found on HealthNewsDigest.com where she responds to the question: Is Raw Milk Safe To Drink?

Ms. Heslin does not mince words, answering: "In a word, no." Go here and read it all.

Poultry Litter War Sees Battle In Denver; Remains Unsettled

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Lawyer) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:45:54 -0800

Above the bench in the Tenth Circuit Courtroom in Denver where a battle was fought this week between the State of Oklahoma and the poultry industry are the words: “Reason is the soul of all law.”

The “poultry litter” war being waged by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson and the mostly Arkansas-based chicken companies originally caught our attention because of its possible impact on campylobacter incidents in the Illinois River watershed.

It was also a colorful dispute at the trial court level. We got some laughs out of the quotes we were reading in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, where reporter Robert J. Smith has a knack for covering mouthy attorneys.

AG Edmondson wanted Judge Greg Fizzell, the trial judge, to grant Oklahoma’s motion for an emergency injunction to stop further application of poultry litter in the Illinois River watershed. Last September, however, Fizzell denied the injunction. He found that cattle and human waste (from failing septic systems) were contaminating the Illinois, but left the poultry litter pollution issue for trial.

When Fizzell ruled, the town of Locust Grove, OK was reeling from an outbreak of E coli 0111, a rare strain, that eventually killed a Pryor, OK man and sickened 313 others. About third of those ended up in area hospitals. All who became ill were linked to the popular Country Cottage restaurant.

After Oklahoma’s Department of Health failed to link the 0111 to any food or water source, the state’s investigation appeared to be at a dead-end. Then last month, AG Edmondson raised the possibility that the E. coli 0111 came from private well water contaminated by poultry litter.

Locust Grove is some distance from the Illinois River watershed, but the AG’s fingering poultry litter brought the chicken companies down on him in the 0111 outbreak investigation.

All of which made for high drama in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals this week where AG Edmondson went seeking to over-turn Fizzell’s denial of the emergency injunction.

Edmondson, a Democrat who may run for Governor of Oklahoma, in 2010, was there with attorney Fredrick Baker of the South Carolina-based law firm of Motley Rice.

Edmondson brought Motley Rice into the case because Oklahoma needed the resources they brought to the table, the AG told us. He says they’ve brought $24 million to the investigation to date. That’s the only way Edmondson could effectively combat a courtroom full of chicken company attorneys and their PR men.

Edmondson knows that its an uphill battle to get an appellate court to overturn a trial court judge on a ruling out of a emergency or preliminary injunction hearing.

Oklahoma’s problem is some of the original research commissioned for the trial court has yet to get through the “peer-review” process to be published in an acceptable scientific journal. At the same time, the chicken attorneys can say no one has ever proven bacteria from poultry litter has ever made anyone sick.

Meanwhile, the AG forced the state Health Department to begin testing wells in the Locust Grove area, finding almost one in five is producing a "dangerous to humans" bacterial stew, but no finding yet of that always rare 0111.

And near the town of Hogeye, south of Fayetteville, the Illinois River begins in Arkansas. It becomes a scenic river in Oklahoma before being dammed to form Tenkiller Lake near Tahlequah. It empties into the Arkansas River.

Reason might mean doing something to clean it up. What the law requires is up to federal Judges Paul Kelly, David Ebel, and Michael Murphy.

Raw Milk Causes Five People To Suffer Campylobacter Illnesses

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Lawyer) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:58:57 -0800

In another example of how fast Raw Milk can make people sick, and quickly find its way back in the dairy case, we have this story about Pleasant Valley Dairy in Ferndale, WA.

Evergreen State health officials linked Raw Milk from Pleasant Valley to five confirmed cases of illness caused by the campylobacter bacteria. The same strain that made the people sick was found in the unpasteurized milk from Pleasant Valley Dairy.

All five cases were from the adjoining Whatcom and Skagit counties of Washington State. The campylobacter jejuni did not stop the diary for long, however. It merely pulled the bad batch from dairy cases in northwestern Washington and resumed regular distribution.

Pleasant Valley claims it changed its testing procedure to reduce the risk of releasing contaminated milk.

Campylobacter is a common bacterial cause of diarrhea in the United States.

Health Department Says Don't Drink Raw Milk; Ag Department Says "Yes You Can!"

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:22:32 -0800

It is always interesting to tune into the state-by-state Raw Milk saga. Take Pennsylvania for example.

Pennsylvania farms can sell Raw Milk, which means it is not pasteurized, under a system of permits and testing. During the past week, we watched as on Feb. 20, the state Health Department put a public notice out that Raw Milk from Dean Farms in Lawrence County, PA should NOT be consumed because of possible contamination from campylobacter.

Here some of what the state said:

State Health Secretary Everette James today advised consumers who purchased raw milk from Dean Farms in New Castle, Lawrence County, doing business as Pasture Maid Creamery, LLC, to immediately discard the raw milk due to potential bacterial contamination. Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized.

Dean Farms sells directly to consumers who provide their own bottles. The business is not related to Dean's Dairy in Sharpsville, Mercer County, which produces pasteurized milk for supermarkets.

Recently, individuals who consumed raw milk purchased from Dean Farms were found to have gastrointestinal illness due to Campylobacter, a bacterial infection. Since January 23, a total of six confirmed cases of Campylobacter infection have been reported among raw milk drinkers in four unrelated households in western Pennsylvania. The investigation is ongoing.

In the Health Secretary's statement, which can be found here, it says the state recommended Dean Farms stop selling Raw Milk and the dairy agreed. A week later, however, it is the Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary with this release on PR Wire that announces that Dean Farms back selling Raw Milk to the public. It says:

Dean Farms in New Castle, Lawrence County, has tested negative for Campylobacter contamination and resumed sales of raw milk on Feb. 26, Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff said today.

While Dean Farms "tested negative," however, the number of confirmed cases of Campylobacter increased to a total of 9 in four unrelated households. We see no new word about that on the Health Department's website. Just the PR Wire from Secretary Wolff saying everything is okay, move along.

Our question for those of you in PA--Do you feel like this system is working for you?

New Premier Campy Test By Meridian Approved By FDA

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:55:15 -0800

Meridian Bioscience, a fully integrated life science company, has received the FDA clearance for a new test for Campylobacter. Launched as Premier Campy, the rapid enzyme immunoassay test provides for optimized detection of Campylobacter infection, the company said.

According to the company, there is a significant need for the Premier Campy test because it provides a solution to several concerns associated with culture testing, currently the most commonly practiced lab technique for detecting the campylobacter bacteria.

Premier Campy dramatically reduces these concerns with a consistent enzyme immunoassay method that measures the antigen instead of the fragile bacteria in an environment that is less inhibitory than current culturing procedures, the company claimed.

For more from Meridian, go here.

Campylobacter--Still The One! (In the European Union)

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:08:15 -0800

Campylobacter infections still topped the list of zoonotic diseases in the European Union as of 2007.

That at least is the finding of The European Food Safety Authority’s and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s Community Zoonoses Report for 2007, which monitors the occurrence of infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans.

Campylobacter infections were the most-frequently reported zoonotic disease in humans throughout the EU in 2007 with 200,507 cases compared to 175,561 in the previous year -- an increase of 14.2 percent.

In foodstuffs, Campylobacter was mostly found in raw poultry meat with an average of 26% of samples showing contamination. In live animals, Campylobacter was found in poultry, pigs and cattle.

For more on the report, go here.

British Poultry Council Calls For Team To "Eliminate Campylobacter"

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:52:23 -0800

The UK's Farmers Weekly Interactive (FWI) is reporting that the British Poultry Council wants the government's Food Standards Agency to join it in setting up a technical group to come up with "cost effective measures for tackling campylobacter.

FWI quotes the Council's Ted Wright as saying: "Foodborne illness caused by campylobacter infection is still a problem. We know it is a widespread bacterium and that the chicken's gut provides an ideal environment for it to multiply. We are keen to work further to reduce campylobacter on poultrymeat."

"While indoor rearing can help reduce the incidence, greater scientific understanding is needed of how the organism gets into flocks. There have been several joint research projects between FSA and industry over many years, but we need to distil these findings into interventions that work.

"As Andrew Wadge of the FSA said recently, we need to look at what cost-effective measures we can put in place between the farm and the fork, which will intervene to eliminate camplylobacter," said Mr Wright

"Therefore, we want to set-up a joint technical group to pull these together. There's a lot to do in this area, but we can hope that one day we will have campylobacter under control, at least in the poultry sector, in the same way that we now control salmonella."

University of Hawaii Authors Examine Campylobacter On The Islands

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:47:08 -0800

Hawaii's Star-Bulletin today takes a look at the high rate of campylobacter contamination being experienced on the islands of the nation's 50th State. The newspaper reports that:

With about 800 cases per year, Hawaii has the highest rate of reported Campylobacter infections in the nation. Cross-contamination of foods with Campylobacter and other bacteria can happen at home, too. With the holiday season ahead, it's time to make sure that all the cook's helpers know how to avoid cross-contamination.

The taking off point for the article was the $3.2 million fine reportedly imposed on a Salt Creek Grill restaurant in Orange County, California. The raw ahi the Salt Creek Grill served caused permanent nerve damage to a young woman. Raw Ahi (tuna) is a commonly served entry in Hawaii.

The California victim was an avid runner whose condition progressed to permanent nerve damage. Test results indicated that she was infected by a type of bacteria called Campylobacter. While not usually found in raw tuna, the "Campy" bacteria is common in chicken. Cross contamination was likely at the California Salt Creek Grill.

The Star-Bulletin article by Alan Titchenal, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S., , can be found here.

The authors are nutritionists in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii-Manoa. Dobbs also works with University Health Services.

Sheep Droppings Plus Mud Equals Campylobacter Outbreak At Wales Bike Race

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Lawyer) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:06:17 -0800

Last March when we wrote here about an outbreak of Campylobacter being attributed to the mud in a bike race up in British Columbia, we thought it was a one-time weird event. We were wrong. It has happened again.

We have this report from Wales via Metro. Co.UK:

"Mud contaminated with sheep faeces was the most likely cause of 161 cyclists falling ill at a competition.

"The outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea at the Mountain Bike Marathon, in Wales, was probably caused by Campylobacter in mud liquidised by heavy overnight rain, a report said on Tuesday.

The July incident, in Builth Wells, was investigated by the National Public Health Service for Wales."

Guess there is never a good time to be sheep dip.

Grocery Cart Washing Latest Weapon Against Campylobacter

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Lawyer) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:16:09 -0800

We'd be happy if the grocery store carts just came with wheels that worked. We do admit looking at each cart pretty carefully before taking it and we've always stacked things with some strategy in mind. (You do have to think about where the diaper-clad rider was sitting an hour earlier.) And we have on occasion used those handy wipes grocery stores have been offering us.

So it was only a matter of time before grocery stores began offering cart-washing services to their customer services. As the Wall Street Journal put it this week:

Though hardly Public Enemy No. 1, shopping carts are gaining a reputation as one of the dirtiest public places, with some found to harbor such microbial villains as the diarrhea-causing Campylobacter and the potentially deadly Salmonella.

Check out what's happening at the Chevy Chase Supermarket here. It will be coming to a store near you soon enough!

Pediatric campylobacteriosis in northern Taiwan from 2003 to 2005

marler@marlerclark.com (Campylobacter Attorney) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:22:09 -0800

BioMed Central has published the abstract of a study into the character of Campylobacter isolates from infected children in northen Taiwan, as well as basic information about the patients, collected from December 2003 to February 2005.

The study involved a total of 894 fecal specimens were collected by several clinics and hospitals from children who had diarrhea, followed by plating onto selective media. Drug susceptibility test of the isolates from these specimens were conducted by disk diffusion method and their serotypes were also studied using commercial antisera made in Japan.

According to the abstract, "the isolation rate of Campylobacter during these 15 months was 6.8 percent and was higher in winter (11.1 percent) than in other seasons. C. jejuni was the most prevalent (95.1 percent) species in northern Taiwan, comparable to other developed countries.

"Among the 61 Campylobacter isolates, most were resistant to tetracycline (93.4 percent), nalidixic acid (91.8 percent), ciprofloxacin (90.2 percent), and ampicillin (85.5 percent). Erythromycin-resistant isolates represented 3.3 percent of all isolates, suggesting that this drug may be the first choice for treatment. The serotypes of the 61 isolates were demonstrated and only 41.4 percent were typable"

To access the full study, go here.