Short incubation periods in campylobacter outbreaks associated with poultry liver dishes

Campylobacter is the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in Australia. The incubation period is usually between 2 and 5 days but can range from 1 to 10 days.2 Symptoms include diarrhoea (often bloody), fever and abdominal pain, and can persist for 7 days or longer. The infective dose required to cause illness is as low as 500 organisms. Despite a high number of notifications, outbreaks caused by Campylobacter are uncommonly detected. Outbreaks of Campylobacter have regularly been associated with poultry and dairy products, and in recent years the number of outbreaks associated with poultry liver dishes has increased in the United States of America and the United Kingdom.This article describes a point source outbreak of Campylobacter associated with duck liver parfait with a possible short incubation period; and the review of the literature prompted by the investigation, which identifies short incubation periods as a common feature of point source outbreaks associated with poultry liver consumption