Campylonacteriosis

What Is It?

Campylobacteriosis is an infection by one of several species of Campylobacter bacteria, particularly Campylobacter jejuni ( C. jejuni). This infection typically causes diarrhea. The infection also can cause fever and abdominal cramps.

Humans usually become infected with Campylobacter after eating poorly prepared meat, especially undercooked chicken. According to government statistics, Campylobacter is currently the most common bacterial cause of food-borne illness in the United States, producing more infections than either Salmonella or Escherichia coli ( E. coli). Infants have an especially high rate of campylobacteriosis because of their immature immune defenses. Young adults also are at higher risk of infection, possibly because they have less experience cooking and handling raw meats and may therefore be exposed more often to potentially contaminated foods. Also, most healthy people probably develop some degree of immunity against Campylobacter as they mature, so the number of cases of Campylobacter infection in middle-aged and older adults is fairly low.

Besides being transmitted to humans in tainted, undercooked meat, Campylobacter also can contaminate unpasteurized milk and untreated water. In addition, Campylobacter bacteria sometimes infect humans who have handled raw meat (especially poultry), touched a sick pet that has diarrhea, or traveled to undeveloped countries where sanitation is poor. Although it is possible to develop campylobacteriosis after direct contact with an infected person, this is not common.

Among people with weakened immune defenses - especially those with HIV, cancer, or advanced liver disease- Campylobacter bacteria can cause a pattern of repeat infections. In these people, Campylobacter also can spread through the blood and attack other organs.

Symptoms

Some people who have a Campylobacter infection never develop significant symptoms, and some have only a mild case of the illness, which goes away on its own. When full-blown symptoms occur, they usually begin two to seven days after exposure to Campylobacter,. At first, you may have a 12- to 48-hour period of fever, headache, muscle aches, and malaise (a general feeling of sickness). These early symptoms are followed by crampy abdominal pain and diarrhea, sometimes with nausea and vomiting. In some cases, the diarrhea is fairly mild, with only a few loose stools each day. In other cases, there are more than 10 stools daily, and the diarrhea contains obvious blood.