Tag Archives: Campylobacter

Irritable Bowel After Campylobacter Enteritis

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A Berumen et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2021; 19: 1855-1863. Characteristics and Risk Factors of Post-Infection Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) After Campylobacter Enteritis

The Minnesota Department of Health collects data on symptoms and exposures upon notification of Campylobacter cases. In this 6-9 month followup survey of 1667 (2011-2019) out of a total of 3586 patients, the authors identified 1418 without preexisting IBS.

Key findings:

  • 301 (21%) subsequently developed IBS. Most of these individuals had IBS-mixed (54%), followed by IBS-diarrhea (38%), and IBS-constipation (6%)
  • Additionally, the authors note that 121 patients (8.5%) had new GI problems after infection that did not meet thresholds set by Rome criteria
  • Among patients with IBS-mixed or IBS-diarrhea before infection, 78% retained their subtypes after infection. In contrast, only 50% of patients with IBS-constipation retained that subtype after infection;40% transitioned to IBS-mixed
  • Of patients with pre-existing IBS, 38% had increased frequency of abdominal pain after Campylobacter infection
  • One limitation of the study is ‘responder bias.’ There may be a lower rate of IBS/GI symptoms in the subset of patients who did not respond to survey.

My take: A lot of people develop IBS and other GI symptoms after Campylobacter infection; those with IBS often have intensification of their symptoms.

Related blog posts:

Related study: Am J Gastroenterol  2012 Jun;107(6):891-9. “Norovirus GE leads to the development of PI-IBS in a substantial proportion of patients (13%), similar to that reported after bacterial GE.”

Food Safety Lecture–It is Still A Jungle Out There

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Yesterday, I posted a blog that tried to summarize some of William Balistreri’s talk on Global Health.  He gave a 2nd Excellent Lecture on Food Safety at the Georgia AAP Nutrition Symposium.  One audience member suggested that this lecture was well-paired with the previous lecture as the awareness of food-borne illnesses might deter gluttony.

This lecture was packed with information regarding food safety; he highlighted the extensive and frequent food-borne illnesses.

Key points:

  • The problem of food-borne illness was put under a spotlight by Upton Sinclair in The Jungle (1906) which led to reforms in meat packing industry.  However, more work is needed
  • FSMA -Food Safety Modernization Act was signed into law in 2011; it’s aim is to create a proactive rather than reactive approach, Historic opportunity to increase food safety
  • Food-borne illnesses: 1 in 10 persons worldwide will be sick every year & leads to 1/2 million deaths worldwide each year.  125,000 deaths in children
  • Food-borne illnesses: 48 million cases in U.S. each year (CDC estimates) and 3000 deaths (MMWR 64:2, 2015)
  • Besides significant mortality rates for food-borne illnesses, they also contribute to post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome (~13% of all cases) and these illnesses can be indefinite
  • Social media, including “IwasPoisoned.com” and Yelp, will likely help identify outbreaks more quickly.  Newer molecular technologies during food processing has the potential to improve food safety.

Resources:

  • For those who want to keep up food-borne illnesses, Dr. Balistreri recommended food safety news, which provides daily emails. Link to subscribe: Food Safety News
  • Two books that were recommended: The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum and Outbreak by Timothy Lytton
  • The CDC has plenty of advice and a useful pamphlet regarding the key 4 steps with food preparation: Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill. https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/keep-food-safe.html
  • Another resource: FoodSafety.gov

Link to full talk slides PDF: FOOD SAFETY (10-10-19)  I have placed about 20 slides below which summarize much of the information that he conveyed.