Following the development of procedures for detecting the organism in stool specimens, Campylobacter jejuni became recognized as a leading cause of acute bacterial gastroenteritis in humans.
Campylobacter jejuni is a gram-negative, microaerophilic, thermophilic rod that grows best at 42°C (107°F) and low oxygen concentrations.
These characteristics are adaptations for growth in its normal habitat – the intestines of warm-blooded birds and mammals.
Several closely related species with similar characteristics, C. coli, C. fetus, and C. upsalienis, may also cause disease in man but are responsible for less than one percent of human infections annually.
Evidence suggests that Campylobacter is responsible for at least as many cases of enteric illness as Salmonella.
Indeed, it is now believed that campylobacteriosis is more common in the United States than salmonellosis and shigellosis combined. Common symptoms of campylobacter enteritis include profuse diarrhea (sometimes containing blood), abdominal cramps and nausea.
Human volunteer and retrospective studies of food associated outbreaks revealed that ingesting relatively small numbers (only a few hundreds cells) of Campylobacter jejuni can produce illness.
Campylobacter jejuni
