Infection with a Campylobacter species is one of the most common causes of human bacterial gastroenteritis. In the United States, 15 out of every 100,000 people are diagnosed with campylobacteriosis every year, and with many cases going unreported, up to 0.5% of the general population may unknowingly harbor Campylobacter in their gut annually. Diarrhea, cramps, abdominal pain, and fever develop within 2–5 days of picking up a pathogenic Campylobacter species, and in most people, the illness lasts for 7–10 days. But the infection can sometimes be fatal, and some individuals develop Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the nerves that join the spinal cord and brain to the rest of the body are damaged, sometimes permanently.

Campylobacteriosis is usually caused by C. jejuni, a spiral-shaped bacterium normally found in cattle, swine, and birds, where it causes no problems. But the illness can also be caused by C. coli (also found in cattle, swine, and birds), C. upsaliensis (found in cats and dogs), and C. lari (present in seabirds in particular). Disease-causing bacteria generally get into people via contaminated food, often undercooked or poorly handled poultry, although contact with contaminated water, livestock, or household pets can also cause disease.

Treatment

Infections of poultry was treated by enrofloxacin and sarafloxacin, many times by mass administration to flocks for single instances of infection. According to the FDA study banning this practice, this generally did not eliminate all campy bacteria, and promoted populations of bacteria resitant to fluoroquinolone drugs (like the human drug ciprofloxacin).

Species

Campylobacter coli
Campylobacter jejuni
Campylobacter lari
Campylobacter insulaenigrae
Campylobacter upsaliensis
Campylobacter helveticus
Campylobacter fetus
Campylobacter hyointestinalis
Campylobacter lanienae
Campylobacter mucosalis
Campylobacter curvus
Campylobacter concisus
Campylobacter rectus
Campylobacter showae
Campylobacter gracilis
Campylobacter hominis
Campylobacter sputorum

Other resources

Read more at Wikipedia.org

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Making Campylobacter easier to count
From Agricultural Research, 10/1/04 by Sharon Durham

Imagine trying to count the raindrops on your car's windshield after a light rain. That's what it can be like for a researcher to count Campylobacter colonies growing in round petri dishes.

Historically, the medium, called agar, used to grow Campylobacter contains blood components or charcoal, giving the agar a dark color. Unfortunately, Campylobacter colonies are clear, often appearing like water droplets on the agar.

Now, Agricultural Research Service food technologist J. Eric Line has found a way to make the task of counting them a whole lot easier.

Scientists typically use a technique called direct plating to isolate and count microscopic organisms. "Direct plating can be used to grow and count Campylobacter from a variety of sample types. But distinguishing Campylobacter from non-Campylobacter contaminants that often grow on many existing agars is difficult," says Line.

Line has determined that exposing Campylobacter to low levels of the chemical triphenyltetrazolium chloride does not harm growth, yet stains the colonies deep red to magenta. New agars used for Campylobacter growth are translucent, resulting in a contrast of dark colonies on the translucent background. Line explains, "This greatly facilitates Campylobacter isolation and makes counting them on light boxes or by electronic means possible."

But contamination by other organisms can still happen. In this instance, even if contaminant colonies show up as red, most of them are easily distinguished from Campylobacter by differences in shape and structure.

Campylobacter is a foodborne pathogen found in several raw or mishandled foods, including poultry. More than 10,000 cases of human campylobacteriosis are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention each year, though many more cases go undiagnosed or unreported. This illness is characterized by diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain, and fever. (See related articles on pages 2 and 4.)

The new technique, available for licensing, can be used in laboratories to conduct diagnostic testing.

Eric Line is in the USDA-ARS Poultry Microbiological Safety Research Unit, Richard B. Russell Agricultural Research Center, 950 College Station Rd., Athens, GA 32604; phone (706) 546-3522, fax (706) 546-3771, e-mail eline@saa.ars.usda.gov.

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