When someone says Australian boarding school, all I can think of is the highlarious television show, Summer Heights High.

Some researchers from Canberra report in the current issue of Foodborne Pathogens and Disease about an outbreak of Campylobacter jejuni gastroenteritis at an Australian boarding school.

Thirty-five cases of gastroenteritis were recorded among 58 questionnaire respondents, with 14 of 18 persons submitting fecal samples having confirmed C. jejuni infections. Attendance at one evening meal was statistically associated with illness (ratio of proportions of 3.09; 95% confidence intervals: 1.21, 14.09; p = 0.02). There was no statistically significant association between any single food provided at the implicated evening meal and illness, suggesting that the potential cause of the outbreak was a cross-contamination event.

The study highlights the potential of cross-contamination as a cause of epidemic campylobacteriosis. The application of molecular techniques to aid epidemiological investigation of recognized C. jejuni outbreaks is illustrated.
 

Campylobacter is on the rise, so the Douglas County Health Department has decided to remind consumers they are the critical control point when it comes to food safety.

With 40 confirmed cases of campylobacter this year -- 35 per cent of cases treated in an emergency department and 12 per cent requiring hospitalization – the health department reports 85 per cent of those who became ill had eaten poultry products and 32 per cent had handled raw meat. All of the cases have involved meals prepared in the home.

With 40 people, this percentage talk is fairly meaningless. The press release also does not state whether these campylobacter cases involved frozen chicken thingies. And yes, it’s important for consumers to handle any raw food like it’s toxic waste, but why isn’t the public health dude asking, why so much campylobacter in food?

Douglas County Health Director Dr. Adi Pour said,

“This illness can be prevented with just a little extra precaution. The cases range in age from less than one year to over 80 years of age.”

The release also states that,

“cooked food appears to have been contaminated when it was reintroduced to plates that previously held the meat which had dripped juice on the plate.”

If there are 40 cases of campylobacter in Nebraska that can be traced to cross-contamination via plates, this is a significant research finding and should be published immediately in a peer-reviewed journal. We have found in our own research that cross-contamination is much higher than anyone expects. But then the release goes into standard talk of “Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill,” so maybe this is speculation rather than a scientific assessment.

Don’t know, can’t tell. Maybe the people who write press releases should provide more information and be less patronizing.
 

The Utah County Department of Health (that’s in the U.S.) reports the Campylobacter outbreak that left more than 300 people in Saratoga Springs ill and triggered a boil order appears to be receding.

Joy Holbrook, a nurse epidemiologist with the department, said,

"We're thinking that the outbreak is decreasing out there. It has been several days since we've had any new cases from Saratoga Springs."

Health department officials still are looking for the source of the contamination, which is responsible for 21 confirmed cases of Campylobacter and more than 300 probable cases. Holbrook said the small trace of organisms required to cause sickness and infection can be difficult to detect.

Don’t eat cheese made in a bathtub.

The Washoe County Health District in Reno, Nevada, announced that a child became seriously ill from Campylobacter after eating homemade cheese that was illegally sold door-to-door.

Tracie Douglas, the health district’s spokeswoman, said she does not know when the child became ill or if the youngster had to be hospitalized. Also unavailable is the child’s age, gender or city of residence.

Because queso fresco is made with unpasteurized milk in unsanitary and unlicensed facilities, it poses a serious health threat to consumers, particularly the elderly, young, pregnant women, and people who have weakened immune systems.

Although it has not been determined if the cheese that made the child sick was made locally, it is being sold door-to-door in the Truckee Meadows throughout Hispanic communities, health officials said.