Hazards of Healthy Living: Bottled Water and Salad Vegetables as Risk Factors for Campylobacter Infection

Autor: Meirion R. Evans, C. Donald Ribeiro, Roland L. Salmon
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2003
Předmět:
Zdroj: Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 9, Iss 10, Pp 1219-1225 (2003)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1080-6040
1080-6059
DOI: 10.3201/eid0910.020823
Popis: Campylobacter is the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide, yet the etiology of this infection remains only partly explained. In a retrospective cohort study, we compared 213 sporadic campylobacter case-patients with 1,144 patients with negative fecal samples. Information was obtained on food history, animal contact, foreign travel, leisure activities, medical conditions, and medication use. Eating chicken, eating food from a fried chicken outlet, eating salad vegetables, drinking bottled water, and direct contact with cows or calves were all independently associated with infection. The population-attributable fractions for these risk factors explained nearly 70% of sporadic campylobacter infections. Eating chicken is a well-established risk factor, but consuming salad and bottled water are not. The association with salad may be explained by cross-contamination of food within the home, but the possibility that natural mineral water is a risk factor for campylobacter infection could have wide public health implications.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals