August 2, 2021

 

Report found chicken to be key source of Campylobacter infections in UK

 

 

Chicken has been confirmed as the source of most Campylobacter infections in the United Kingdom, according to a research report published by the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA).

 

The report's aim was to estimate contributions of the main sources to human infection and identify changes over time. The work by Oxford University also looked at antimicrobial resistance.

 

About 300,000 cases of Campylobacter infections are estimated to be acquired from food each year in the UK and it costs the state about £1 billion ($1.4 billion) annually.

 

The project assessed patient samples between October 2015 and September 2018 from a representative urban site in North Tyneside and a rural one in Oxfordshire alongside foods sampled from retail in York, Salisbury and London.

 

Past work has found Campylobacter types in fresh chicken often match those from ill people in Sweden and poultry meat is a major source of infection in New Zealand.

 

The UK Campylobacter Source Attribution study estimated that 70% of Campylobacter jejuni and just under 50% of Campylobacter coli infection was linked to chicken as the source. These figures were relatively stable over time.

 

Ruminants were the second most common source for Campylobacter jejuni and the main one for Campylobacter coli while there was some link to pigs.

 

Overall, 2,725 respondents reported eating chicken in the five days prior to onset of symptoms.

 

Rick Mumford, FSA's head of science, evidence and research, said: "We will use these findings to better understand the causes of Campylobacter infection, and to inform further work on foodborne transmission. This will also help to identify further research areas to explore as we seek to reduce the overall burden of Campylobacter infection in the UK."

 

The study also revealed an increase in antimicrobial resistance in Campylobacter strains between 1997 and 2018.

 

There was a rise in fluoroquinolone and tetracycline resistance in Campylobacter jejuni human isolates. Fluoroquinolone resistance was more frequent in Campylobacter jejuni isolates from chicken than other animals, whilst tetracycline resistance was more common in poultry and pig isolates than ruminants.

 

Resistance to macrolides and aminoglycosides remained low.

 

- Food Safety News