Ninety-seven percent of human disease from the pathogenic bacterium
C. jejuni
C. jejuni infections in
Lancashire, England. Only 3 percent of cases were traced back to
environmental contamination or wild animal sources, while 97 percent of
cases were traced back to farm-raised chickens, cattle, and sheep.
These results implicate livestock as the primary transmission route for
the leading cause of gastroenteritis in the developed world, which is
thought to infect 2 to 3 million people per year in the U.S. alone.
originates in animals farmed for meat and poultry, according to a study
by researchers at Lancaster University, Lancaster, U.K. Researchers
analyzed DNA from 1,231 cases of
Wilson DJ, Gabriel E, Leatherbarrow AJ, et al. Tracing the source of campylobacteriosis.
PLoS Genet. September 26, 2008;4(9):e1000203.
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