Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-19T17:55:01.105Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Jackdaws and magpies as vectors of milkborne human campylobacter infection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

S. J. Hudson ,
N. F. Lightfoot ,
J. C. Coulson ,
K. Russell ,
P. R. Sisson  and
A. O. Sobo
S. J. Hudson
Affiliation:
Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead
N. F. Lightfoot*
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory, Newcastle upon Tyne
J. C. Coulson
Affiliation:
University of Durham Department of Biological Sciences
K. Russell
Affiliation:
Metropolitan Borough Council, Gateshead
P. R. Sisson
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory, Newcastle upon Tyne
A. O. Sobo
Affiliation:
Gateshead Health Authority
*
*N. F. Lightfoot, Public Health Laboratory, Newcastle General Hospital, Westgate Road. Newcastle upon Tyne.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In 1990 we reported that milk bottles pecked by jackdaws and magpies were a probable source of human Campylobacter infection. During April to June 1990 an extended study of Campylobacter infections was carried out in the Gateshead area. Prior to the study a health education programme was undertaken in an attempt to reduce human infection. Fifty-nine cases of human infection were recorded and 52 were interviewed. Thirty were entered into a case control study which demonstrated a very strong association between consumption of pecked milk and human Campylobacter infection (X2 = 12·6, P < 0·0004). It was estimated that between 500 and 1000 jackdaws (Corvus monedula) were present in the area where milk bottles were pecked and 63 isolates of Campylobacter were made from the bill and cloaca. Target bottles were put out in the early mornings and Campylobacters were isolated from 12 of 123 pecked bottles. Typing of the Campylobacters revealed a wide distribution of strains amongst birds, pecked milk and human infections. The health education programme had only limited success.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 107 , Issue 2 , October 1991 , pp. 363 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

References

REFERENCES

1.Robinson, DA, Jones, DM. Milkborne Campylobacter infection. BMJ 1981; 282: 1374–6.Google Scholar
2.Palmer, SR, Gully, PR, White, JM, et al. Water-borne outbreak of Campylobacter gastroenteritis. Lancet 1983; 1: 287–90.Google Scholar
3.Hudson, SJ, Sobo, AO, Russell, K, Lightfoot, NF. Jackdaws as a potential source of milkborne Campylobacter jejuni infection. Lancet 1990; 335: 1160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Southern, JP, Smith, RMM, Palmer, SR. Bird attack on milk bottles: possible mode of transmission to man. Lancet 1990; 336: 1425–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Bailey, NTJ. On estimating the size of mobile populations from recapture data. Biometrika 1951; 38: 293–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Palmer, SR. Epidemiology in search of infectious diseases: methods in outbreak investigation. J Epidemiol Comm Health 1989; 43: 311–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Kapperud, G, Rosef, O. Avian wildlife reservoir of Campylobacter fetus subsp jejuni, Yersinia spp. and Salmonella spp. in Norway. Appl Environ Microbiol 1983; 45: 375–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Skirrow, MB, Benjamin, J. ‘1001’ Campylobacters; cultural characteristics of intestinal Campylobacters from man and animals. J Hyg 1980; 85: 427–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Goossens, H, Vlaes, L, de Boeck, M, et al. Is ‘Campylobacter upsaliensis’ an unrecognised cause of human diarrhoea? Lancet 1990; 335: 584–6.Google Scholar
10.Bolton, FJ, Holt, AV, Hutchinson, DN. Campylobacter biotyping scheme of epidemiological value. J Clin Pathol 1984; 37: 677–81.Google Scholar
11.Reina, G, Alomar, P. Fluroquinolone resistance in thermophilic Campylobacter sp. isolated from stools of Spanish patients. Lancet 1990; 336: 186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Blaser, MJ, Hardesty, HL, Powers, B, Wang, WLL. Survival of Campylobacter fetus subsp. jejuni in biological milieus. J Clin Microbiol 1980; 11: 309–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13.Park, CE, Stankiewicz, ZK. Factors affecting the recovery of Campylobacters from milk. In: Pearson, AD, Skirrow, MB, Lior, H, Rowe, B, eds. Campylobacter 111. London: Public Health Laboratory Service 1985: 112.Google Scholar
14.Robinson, DA. Infective dose of Campylobacter jejuni in milk. BMJ 1981; 282: 1584.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15.Jones, K, Betaieb, M, Telford, DR. Correlation between environmental monitoring of thermophilic Campylobacters in sewage effluent and the incidence of Campylobacter infection in the community. J Appl Bacteriol 1990; 69: 235–40.Google Scholar
16.Smibert, RM. The genus Campylobacter. Annu Rev Microbiol 1978; 32: 673–705.Google Scholar
17.Sockett, PN, Pearson, AD. Cost implications of human Campylobacter infections. In: Kaijser, B, Falsen, E, eds. Campylobacter IV: Proceedings of the fourth international workshop on Campylobacter infections. Goteborg 1988: 261–4.Google Scholar