January 2007
Stricken by chicken?
Photography by Ann Schertz
WHO Leighton Kunkle, 40, beauty-supply distributor, Perrysville, Ind.
What HAPPENED Kunkle suspects that he was infected with campylobacter from undercooked chicken strips he ate at a Phoenix restaurant while on a family vacation in March 2002. “It was lukewarm,” he said. “I was starving, so I really didn’t care. I ate it.” The initial gastrointestinal symptoms were bad, he recalls. Days later, he began to lose feeling in his feet and legs. He was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a severe nerve condition, and says he still has problems walking. A lawsuit he filed against the restaurant was settled out of court in April 2006 without admission of liability.
What HAPPENED Kunkle suspects that he was infected with campylobacter from undercooked chicken strips he ate at a Phoenix restaurant while on a family vacation in March 2002. “It was lukewarm,” he said. “I was starving, so I really didn’t care. I ate it.” The initial gastrointestinal symptoms were bad, he recalls. Days later, he began to lose feeling in his feet and legs. He was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a severe nerve condition, and says he still has problems walking. A lawsuit he filed against the restaurant was settled out of court in April 2006 without admission of liability.
