I recently cared for a college student with campylobacter infection of the bowel. He had nearly died from this food poisoning. I helped him look it up, it is usually transmitted via bird poop or eating contaminated poultry or eggs. So, that got me thinking about the campylobacter bacteria. Why do I feed my family unwashed backyard chicken eggs and nobody here has had the near death experience like my patient? These are the discussion points we considered:
1. The silky soft waxy "bloom" on the eggshell does indeed keep chicken's bacterial stuff outside the egg.
2. Campylobacter is a warm-water-inhabiting bacteria which dies in airy, oxygen rich environment. It requires warmer than 100 degrees to reproduce, without much oxygen. Campylobacter are usually transmitted via jacuzzi's, private swimming pools, warm puddles and undercooked poultry. Birds are excellent carriers for campylobacter, as birds' core temp is usually 103 degrees, often higher. The egg sitting in a basket on our kitchen counter is not nearly warm enough to support campylobacter, even if it had been smeared onto the egg during lay.
3. We make everybody warsh their mitts before preparing and eating food. So if they've touched warm wet campylobacter-soiled stuff, it is washed off.
4. the college age patient stated he often ran through goose-poop infested short-cuts to class and to the cafeteria, without taking time to wash hands before eating. Likely, he believed he must have tied/removed/put on his soiled shoes once or twice before eating, at least a few times before becoming ill. None of his family or friends became ill, and they have been sharing food.
5. We are not too careful about chicken poop in our yard, but we all wear "outside shoes" which are left in the mudroom and change into "inside shoes" indoors. Still, we believe chicken poop germs are around, and we have developed healthy normal immunity over the course of 3+ years living with our pet chickens.
We do not wash our eggs. They taste even better after sitting on the counter in their basket for at least a week. Sometimes I turn them, though, so there are no moist spots which don't get exposure to air or light.
I seriously enjoy the silky feel of pulling a warm egg out from under a silly broody hen, though. Its nice. She'll keep as many as she can, so I have to reach in there 2 or 3 times to collect my silky soft pretty eggs from under her wingies. She doesn't mind if I pet her first, it gets her purring how proud she is to be so broody. Really, a fresh egg with its bloom all silky and smooth is a very nice feel.
