DuPont Nutrition & Health has released a new BAX® system assay for poultry rinses that detects both Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, the strains most frequently implicated in human illness.

The automated BAX® system can detect as few as 10 cells of Campylobacter in a 30 ml sample after just 24 hours enrichment.

Campylobacter are commonly found in the intestinal tracts of animals and some humans without causing symptoms of disease. Infection occurs when people eat undercooked meat or poultry, raw milk or untreated water containing the live bacteria. Consuming as few as 500 Campylobacter cells can cause illness.

A leading cause of gastroenteritis in many countries, Campylobacter are the most frequently isolated bacteria from persons with diarrhea. An estimated 2.4 million cases of foodborne infection from these bacteria occur annually in the United States. Although fatalities are rare, serious complications of Campylobacteriosis can include reactive arthritis and Guillan-Barré syndrome, an unusual type of paralysis.