Campylobacter jejuni - SEM image

Scanning electron microscope image of Campylobacter jejuni, illustrating its corkscrew appearance and bipolar flagella. Source: Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Blacksburg, Virginia.

That Campylobacter problem – it just doesn’t go away

It has been fascinating to watch the news reports, both here in New Zealand and overseas, over the last few weeks and see the different takes. The New Zealand Food Safety Authority announced on 15th January the introduction of a Code of Practice for the poultry industry. The code is intended to reduce the incidence of campylobacteriosis in New Zealand, which is the highest in the developed world. The code has received mixed reviews and the language used has at times been intemperate. The blame for much of this disease has been laid at the door of the poultry industry as suppliers of “New Zealand’s cheap and dirty food”. In a Radio NZ interview, Dr. Mike Baker claimed that when chicken is prepared in a kitchen, every surface in the kitchen will be covered with bacteria and the aprons of workers in restaurant kitchens will potentially be covered in a layer of Campylobacter.

When interviewed by the Taranaki Daily News, a Tegel spokesman said that the Company fully supported the new code. Sharon Wagener of NZFSA says that the code formalises a lot of what was already happening voluntarily in the industry. However, on the Green Party website their spokesman Sue Kedgley claimed that the code “fails to include some very simple measures to stem the tide of Campylobacter contamination of chicken meat being sold to New Zealanders”. Some of the points raised by Ms. Kedgley in relation to problems of mechanical handling and leaky packaging are not in dispute, but are already being addressed by the industry.

The Taranaki Medical Officer of Health, Richard Hoskins, noted that the Health Board has had interactions with Tegel (which of course is not the only chicken processor in the country) in efforts to reduce the incidence of the disease. He apparently expressed the view that the Board was "pretty impressed with the efforts they are going to".

Michael Brooks, the Executive Director of the Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand, has also stated that based on figures collected by ESR, human campylobacteriosis case rates have been steadily declining since August 2006, in some months showing a drop of 30-35% over the corresponding previous year. Of course, this does not satisfy everyone; the incidence of campylobacteriosis tends to be somewhat variable from month to month and it will require proper statistical analysis over some years to demonstrate a true decrease.

The adversarial approach being taken by some of the interested parties is not, in my view, the best way forward. Nobody has the complete right answer; where has the still small voice of reason and collaboration gone? Wouldn’t it be better if the parties worked together, using scientifically demonstrable facts and not overheated opinion to put together the jigsaw puzzle and solve the problem?

The fact is that human infection by Campylobacter is a very complex problem and simply pointing the finger at the poultry industry will not solve it, no matter what codes of practice are imposed. Take just one point: sub-typing of Campylobacter, using molecular methods, can show the relatedness of various isolates from poultry and from humans. In some parts of the country, a single sub-type is found in up to 20% of human cases and in poultry. In other parts, the sub-typing shows that human cases do not share the same types as found in poultry. Nobody is claiming that poultry does not contribute significantly to campylobacteriosis in New Zealand, but the industry takes this seriously and is doing something about it, having issued its own Broiler Growing Biosecurity Manual in consultation with NZFSA in August 2007. This describes the minimum standards to be used in NZ broiler production systems, aiming at ensuring the products meet food safety and suitability requirements and consumer needs. Campylobacter is a commensal bacterium – it is found in poultry and some other animals and does not cause them to be ill, so getting rid of it is going to require considerable effort and some cost on the part of farmers and processors.

The code comes into force on the first of March 2008.

For more information on Campylobacter, click here

Dangerous probiotics? Probably not

Readers may have been concerned to hear last week of 24 unexplained deaths among patients with acute pancreatitis, who were being administered probiotics in a study conducted at the University Medical Centre in Utrecht. The deaths occurred between 2004 and 2007 and represented 16% of the 296 patients in the trial. Unfortunately, the original reports are in Dutch and it is difficult to glean the full facts, including the percentage of patients in the control group who died.

It appears that the patients all had serious acute pancreatitis – inflammation of the pancreas. This disease may have a number of causes, but alcohol abuse and gallstones account for 80-90% of cases. Scarring of the pancreas during an attack may lead to chronic disease that can become life threatening.

The research concerned the functioning of probiotic bacteria administered to reduce the effects of the pancreatitis. The investigation was conducted in fifteen hospitals under the guidance of UMC Utrecht. If I have interpreted the press reports correctly, an investigation of the deceased showed that no infection resulted from the administration of the probiotics. However, three factors appear to be involved: treatment with probiotics of patients having organ failure; treatment of patients in intensive care; treatment of patients being fed by probe directly into the digestive tract. The researchers have recommended that if a patient satisfies one or more of these criteria, they should not be administered probiotics. A similar trial in Czechia has been stopped.

It had been thought that the administration of probiotic bacteria would raise the patients’ resistance to detrimental bacteria colonizing the gut.

Not surprisingly, the main manufacturers of probiotic cultures have reacted strongly, stating that there is no evidence that feeding of probiotics has a deleterious effect on healthy individuals. They have also claimed that the bacteria in the study are different from those in their own products.

I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this, but in the meantime I suggest that normal, healthy adults should continue eating their probiotic-containing yoghurt or drinking their daily dose of probiotic cultures. The benefits of probiotic bacteria have been known for many years and countless people have consumed them without apparent ill effects. Extrapolating from patients who were already seriously unwell to normal healthy individuals is ill advised.

This morning my muesli and strawberries tasted just great with the addition of probiotic yoghurt!