'Barbecue bug' on rampage across UK – and we can't blame the weather

Published on Wednesday 29 July 2009 22:06

A BUG that causes food poisoning has increased to its highest prevalence in nine years in Scotland.

Cases of campylobacter – often called the barbecue bug because of its link to poorly cooked meat – are up almost a fifth this year, officials said. But experts said the cause of the rise in people falling ill remained unclear.

Health Protection Scotland (HPS) revealed that in the first 28 weeks of 2009, 3,033 cases of campylobacter were reported – up 19 per cent from 2,546 during the same period last year.

The incidence rate is the highest since 2000, and the increase has been seen across most Scottish mainland NHS board areas.

Dr John Cowden, a public health consultant at HPS, said the increase in campylobacter was "quite striking".

"It's across the whole of Scotland and there is also an increase across the UK," he said.

"It is not linked to anything simple like a wedding or funeral or anything like that, so it's not a point source outbreak.

"The cases have nothing epidemiologically in common – they are not all old or young or from any particular group.

"So it looks like it is something general, rather than specific."

Dr Cowden said rates of the bug could vary year to year, but a 20 per cent rise was hard to dismiss as simply a "blip". It was likely that circulation of the bug had simply increased and was probably linked to poultry.

"They call it the barbecue bug and if we had had a particularly good summer this year and it had gone up, we could say that was the reason," Dr Cowden said.

"But we have had a rubbish summer, and yet the bug has still gone up."

He said rates of the bug had been higher in the winter and spring and had actually decreased recently.

Dr Cowden said people with campylobacter could feel more ill than those with salmonella. But he said salmonella could be deadly, whereas campylobacter rarely was.

"Its severe end is not as bad as salmonella and certainly nothing like as bad as E coli."

Campylobacter is one of the most common forms of food poisoning with symptoms including severe diarrhoea, cramps and fever.

Lisa Miles, senior nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, said that making sure meat was properly prepared was key to avoiding bugs like campylobacter.

"If you are cooking on a barbecue you should cut all the way through to make sure the meat is not pink in the middle.

"With chicken, make sure you pierce it with a skewer to make sure the juices run clear.

"And you should never mix utensils used with cooked and raw meat. Washing your hands and storing food properly are also important."