Food-Borne Bacteria Found In Poultry And Seafood On The Rise

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are reporting some bad news. Apparently, illnesses caused by food-borne pathogens are on the rise, with an increasing proportion of them from bacteria found in uncooked poultry and seafood.

The rate of illnesses caused by the bacterium Campylobacter has risen by 14% in 2012 compared to the rates seen in 2006 to 2008. Campylobacter is most often found in raw and undercooked poultry, and occasionally in raw milk products. Additionally, illnesses stemming from the bacterium Vibrio rose 43% over the 2006 to 2008 levels.

Campylobacter tends to affect those under 5 years of age the hardest, with those in that age group the most likely to require a hospital trip. On the other side of the spectrum, Vibrio infected food tends to have the biggest impact on those 65 years and older.

The increase in the rate of Campylobacter, strangely enough, is actually part of an overall decline in the pathogen in comparison to data from 15 years ago. For Vibrio however, the bacterium has been seeing a steady rise since 1996.

Luckily, the rise of these two bacterium was not indicative of food borne illnesses in general. The incidence rate of these occurrences was about even with the 2006 to 2008 levels.

Additionally, Salmonella is still the most common pathogen responsible for food related illnesses, accounting for a vast majority of reported cases at the CDC's 10 monitoring stations. Campylobacter clocked in second, followed by Shigella, Cryptosporidium, Escherichia coli, the aforementioned Vibrio, Yersinia, Listeria and finally Cyclosporidium.

All of these illnesses typically result in several days of vomiting, diarrhea, and in extreme cases, death. Of the 15,531 food borne illnesses tracked by the CDC's 10  surveillance sites in 2012, 4,563 resulted in a hospital trip, and 68 resulted in death.

With those numbers in mind, it's probably a good idea to keep a closer eye on how well you are cooking your chicken and seafood in the future.