Campylobacter

[fran35]

Hey everyone,
I was hoping for some advice and personal experiences. I have just recovered from diagnosed campylobacter. My wife was sick last month with almost identical symptoms, but we did not have tested. I have two small kids (3 and 1) and am not looking forward to them getting it. I am fairly confident that this was not food borne and came from our hens. I love having chickens but do not really want my kids to come down with the same thing I just recovered from. I understand more awareness to hand washing, etc will help, but with small kids--that is not failsafe. Is there any anti biotics that will help me? Also, I really do not want to spend to have all of my chickens tested. Is this a costly endeavor and what are my options?

Thanks

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I found some links on camphylobacter, but don't know how to advise you. The links probably won't tell you much, either, but here they are.

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/campylobacter/#how_infect

http://www.thepigsite.com/swinenews...-on-animal-infections-transmissible-to-humans

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14633036

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/19705/heat-eliminates-campylobacter-in-processed-eggs

http://aem.asm.org/content/69/8/4343.full

 

[Little Miss]

I am certainly no expert on that disease and, to be honest, I have never heard of it. Is the disease affecting your birds at all? On my birds, I use Sulmet (sulfamethazine sodium) Drinking water soulution and Vet RX poultry remedy. They are both somewhat of an all purpose remedy and they are fairly cheap. I'm sure you an buy them at online stores or a farming store near you. I get mine from a store called southern states and I think they might have an online store. I'm not 100% sure it will work but it's worth a try if you ask me. On top of that, I recomend you completely clean out their coop and clean up their run area the best you can. I hope this helps.

 

[leadwolf1]

I am not convinced that this came from your hens. According to most of the information provided in the above post, it seems that it comes more from undercooked poultry meat and eggs.

Seems, you might be able to simply have a fecal exam done on your hens, letting the lab know what you are looking for. I would call my local government extension office and see if there is a state lab that will do the testing for you. Most state labs are really reasonably priced plus, they may be able to give you the other information that you are looking for.

 

[EggieRowe]

Campy testing at my local university is like $16. I got it last year from eggs I bought locally, but my fault for eating some undercooked and dropping part of the shell in. My doctor refused to treat me before my labs came back, and by then - 5 days later - I had recovered on my own. (He didn't even have the decency to tell me I had campy - found out when the health dept called an interrogated me.) When I got my own hens, I was paranoid and washed their eggs so I could eat them over easy with confidence. Good news is an infection give you immunity for at least a few years - so the health dept told me. Its only transmitted by ingesting infected feces, so good hygiene is the cheapest fix. The university extension office could probably recommend a trestment for the flock to be doubly safe. Odds are if one chicken has it, all of them do. Or maybe you could collect a couple fecal samples, mix them up, and submit it as one to be sure your hens are the source. Raw milk is also another source of infection, but less common.