Campylobacter and Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

Campylobacter and Guillain-Barré Syndrome, this seems strange and fictitious but its true and causing havoc. The truth is many people cannot link eating food or drinking milk with possibility of paralysis. Campylobacter jejuni is in a genus of bacteria that is among the most common causes of bacterial infections in humans worldwide and commonly found in animal feces.It is the major cause of gastroenteritis in man and has been linked to Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Guillain-Barre syndrome is a rare condition in which a person immune system attacks the nerves, leading to muscle weakness and even paralysis.This cause of this condition is unknown, but it’s typically triggered by an infectious illness, such as the stomach flu or a lung infection. The signs of C.jejuni infection include abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, and malaise and diarrhea can vary in severity from loose to bloody stools. Campylobacter jejuni is commonly associated with poultry as it naturally colonizes the digestive tract of many bird species hence contamination of carcass during processing is a major route of infection in man. C. jejuni has also been identified in cattle gastrointestinal tract,the major form of distribution is drinking contaminated water or unpasteurized milk. Contaminated food is a major source of infections, where poorly prepared meat and poultry are the primary source of the bacteria. Surveys show that 20 to 100% of retail chickens are contaminated, this is not a surprise as many healthy chickens carry these bacteria in their intestinal tracts. Raw milk is also a source of infections, the bacteria are often carried by healthy cattle and by flies on farms. Unchlorinated water may also be another source of infections but properly cooking chicken, pasteurizing milk, and chlorinating drinking water kill the bacteria. This is one of the reason to stop drinking raw milk , stop eating poorly cooked chicken or meat and using contaminated water. This is a story of how a healthy nurse became a quadriplegic because of c. jejuni read