The rising incidence of campylobacteriosis food poisoning in people over 60 in the UK could be partly ascribed to medication for suppressing stomach acidity, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has revealed.
Dr Iain Gillespie from the HPA’s Centre for Infections presented these findings, derived from a Campylobacter case control study, to the Food Standards Agency’s Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) last week.
Gillespie linked the increased used of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs - drugs prescribed to elderly people with gastrointestinal problems) over the past 10 years to the rising incidence of campylobacteriosis.
One theory is that because PPIs suppress stomach acid generation, which might otherwise kill Campylobacter bacteria, one of the body’s natural food poisoning defence mechanisms is being compromised.
Gillespie told the committee that in the first 28 weeks of 2009, the number of cases of campylobacteriosis had increased by 18%. Much of this had been in the over 60 year old age group, he said.
In March, Gillespie informed the ACMSF that while reported human cases of campylobacteriosis in England and Wales were just under 50,000 a year, due to under-reporting the true figure was probably closer to 400,000.
The ACMSF agreed to notify the relevant UK medicine and other health agencies about the findings of the latest study. However, its members were at pains to stress that it was still just a hypothesis and that evaluation by more specialist departments was necessary to investigate any potential link.
ACMSF member, Dr Rick Holliman, a lead consultant and reader in clinical microbiology at St George’s Hospital, London, urged particular caution. He argued if people stopped taking PPIs they might put themselves at much greater health risk.
However, other members felt it important that other agencies were notified. Dr Sally Millership, a consultant in communicable disease control at Essex Health Protection Unit, said: “There is a general lack of understanding of the risk factor [of prescribing PPIs] on gastrointestinal pathogens.”