Foodborne campylobacteriosis in Australia

Abstract

Thermophilic Campylobacter are an important cause of human illness worldwide. Campylobacter reservoirs include a wide variety of wild birds, poultry, farm animals, domestic pets and natural water systems. In Australia, infection is mainly associated with foodborne transmission, though other routes of exposure including waterborne and direct zoonotic transmission are not uncommon. Most cases of infection appear to be sporadic in nature, with outbreaks rarely reported. Epidemiological and microbiological evidence suggests chicken meat is the principal source of infection among cases. A recent study estimated there are more than 50,000 cases of Campylobacter infection attributed to chicken meat each year in Australia. When outbreaks are detected, they are most often associated with the consumption of poultry, contaminated water and occasionally unpasteurised milk. The lack of recognised foodborne outbreaks of campylobacteriosis could be due to organism-related factors such as the inability of thermophilic Campylobacter to multiply on food left at room temperature, their microaerophilic nature and their susceptibility to drying. However, it is likely that outbreaks of Campylobacter infection are also under-reported in developed countries due to the current lack of a suitable phenotypic or genotypic typing method for routine surveillance and outbreak detection. The future development of improved typing methods for detecting outbreaks should enable further sources and risk factors for Campylobacter infection to be determined.