•  Digestive Disorders Center

Most store-bought chicken comes with a bonus: campylobacter, the leading cause of food-borne illness in the United States. In 2005, this bacterium was found on 47 percent of raw chicken breasts tested through by the Food and Drug Administration. And if you're not careful, you'll get infected, too.

Campylobacter infections don't seem to bother chickens, but humans are another story. If this germ invades your digestive system, your body will try to flush it out. Within two to 10 days after catching the germ, you may have diarrhea (possibly tinged with blood), nausea, vomiting, cramps, stomach pain, and a fever. This illness, called campylobacteriosis, strikes roughly 2.4 million Americans each year.

For most people, campylobacteriosis is little more than a nuisance. Within a week or so, the germ will be gone and your symptoms will be an unpleasant memory. Some cases, however, are much more serious. Within several weeks of catching campylobacteriosis, about one out of 1,000 people develop Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disease that causes temporary paralysis. The infection can also cause long-term arthritis. If your immune system is weak, campylobacter can cause a life-threatening infection in your bloodstream.

By far, the most common cause of campylobacteriosis is raw and undercooked poultry. A single drop of chicken juice can be enough to make you sick. If many people in the same area get sick at once, the water supply may be contaminated. A few people have caught it by drinking unpasteurized milk or cleaning up after sick dogs or cats.

First and foremost, you should assume that every piece of raw poultry features a thriving colony of campylobacter. Here are some tips for handling chicken, turkey, and other poultry safely:

•Wash your hands with soap and water as hot as possible after handling raw poultry.

•Cook the meat thoroughly. The juice should run clear, and you shouldn't see a hint of pink. If you have a meat thermometer, make sure the center is at least 170 degrees for breast meat and 180 degrees for thigh meat.

•All cutting boards, surfaces, plates, and kitchen utensils that touch raw poultry should be washed immediately with soap and hot water.

•Use separate cutting boards for meat and non-meat items, such as vegetables.

•Thaw frozen poultry on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator so the juice doesn't drip onto other foods.

•Throw out any marinade used on raw meat.

Besides, chicken, Campylobacter likes to camp out in dirty water, unpasteurized milk, kitty litter, and feces. For extra protection, avoid unpasteurized milk and untreated drinking water, wash your hands with soap and hot water after cleaning up pet feces, and make sure anybody in your house with diarrhea (especially children) washes their hands frequently.

Most people with campylobacteriosis simply need to drink plenty of fluids until the diarrhea passes. For severe cases, a doctor can prescribe an antibiotic, such as erythromycin or a fluoroquinoline. When taken early in the illness, these drugs can shorten your misery by a few days.

-- Chris Woolston, M.S., is a health and medical writer with a master's degree in biology. He is a contributing editor at Consumer Health Interactive, and was the staff writer at Hippocrates, a magazine for physicians. He has also covered science issues for Time Inc. Health, WebMD, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. His reporting on occupational health earned him an award from the northern California Society of Professional Journalists.

References

First published August 27, 2001
Last updated September 22, 2008
Copyright © 2001 Consumer Health Interactive

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