Most Common Cause of Bacterial Food Poisoning Can Also Cause STI

Foodborne illnesses and sexually transmitted infections (STI) are some of the most common diseases experienced globally. While they are completely different in terms of source and transmission, it looks like both had shared something in common somewhere in the west.

The most frequently reported gastrointestinal bacterial pathogen called the Campylobacter, which was typically foodborne, was found out to be likely passed on through MSM or men who have sex with men in Oklahoma City and Denmark.

Usually, Campylobacter infections are transmitted to humans through unsafe consumption of raw or undercooked chicken or poultry, drinking unpasteurized milk or water contaminated by animal manure, or contact with domestic and farm animals.

However, new findings from a study led by OU Hudson College of Public Health assistant professor in Denmark revealed that sexual activities can somehow transmit the disease.

Transmission and Risk Factors

Campylobacteriosis, the term for the disease caused by Campylobacter, had become more common foodborne illness in the Western world. A study published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) proved that mode of transmission for Campylobacter can also be transmitted sexually.

Food poisoning cases and STI in Denmark are reported to Statens Serum Institute (SSI). Infectious disease epidemiologist Katrin Kuhn, Ph.D., and her colleagues went over public health files of 4,186 men over legal age who were infected with the disease through MSM.

According to Kuhn, the Campylobacter infections outbreak in northern Europe among men encouraged her to conduct the study in Denmark.

Results showed that the odds of getting infected by Campylobacter through sex among male group was 14 times higher than controls and 17 times higher than controls of being infected with Shigella, a sexually-transmitted pathogen spread through anal sex. Researcher found no difference between the MSM and controls in Salmonella cases.

The specific type of sexual activity that caused spread of Campylobacter was not exactly determined, but researchers predict that it was transmitted through anal-oral contact or anal-penile-oral contact, or the kind where toys or fingers with small amounts of fecal matter was in contact with the mouth.

Statistically, the study reported that campylobacteriosis is more prevalent among young adults in general as they are more exploratory.

Authors of the study noted that results may be relevant to people of any sexual orientation who practice sex this way, but reasonable explanations and national statistical data show that adult men are more frequently infected with Campylobacter than women.

Monitoring Infectious Diseases In General

The nature of the study is timely with the current's COVID-19 pandemic which dominated news about infectious diseases. It is way beyond one's naked eye how fast pathogens spread and develop making people sick, and how they're just there, existent, waiting to prey on people with lower immunity.

Meanwhile, Kuhn and her team wish to further understand and monitor infectious diseases in Oklahoma. They aim to address important public health matters and inform the public about the risks associated with sexual contact.