When people worry about eating undercooked chicken, they usually focus on getting sick from salmonella bacteria. But another common type of bacteria called campylobacter can also make you ill if you eat poultry that isn’t fully cooked.
Like a salmonella infection, campylobacteriosis can cause diarrhea and sometimes other serious complications.
Infants and children have a greater chance than adults for campylobacter infection, but it can strike anyone at any age. Males are also more likely than females to become infected. It’s more common in summer than winter.
About 1.3 million people are infected in the United States every year, and that doesn’t include the many people who never report their symptoms or become officially diagnosed.
Campylobacter bacteria can get into your system if you eat undercooked poultry or you eat food that has touched raw or undercooked poultry.
The bacteria usually live in the digestive systems of animals, including poultry and cattle. Unpasteurized milk can also have campylobacter bacteria.
Campylobacteriosis usually develops in isolated cases. Sometimes, though, there can be an outbreak when several people have the same infection.
In developing countries, the bacteria can be found in water and sewage systems