Occurrence of Campylobacter spp in food handlers of hospital kitchens in urban area of Southern region Brazil

The lack of information regarding the occurrence of Campylobacter spp in food handlers and the potential public health risk involved, led to the undertaking of this work. The main purpose was to verity the presence of asymptomatic Campylobacter spp carries in food handlers of hospital and commercial foodservice kitchens. The average prevalence of carriers in kitchens was of 6.2%; that in commercial foodservice kitchens (10.5%) being higler than that found in hospital kitchens (2.2%) in a universe of 177 individuals studied A close relationship was found between Campylobacter spp, carriers of masculine sex and age group, wich was of about 20 to 35 years of age. There was also strong evidence suggesting a higher prevalence of Campylobacter spp among handlers of masculine sex than among those of feminine sex.