II. Epidemiology

  1. Among the most common causes of Infectious Diarrhea
    1. Responsible for 5-14% of worldwide Diarrhea
    2. In some years in the U.S., Campylobacter jejuni may cause 2 million cases of Infectious Diarrhea
    3. Very common in Southeast asia

III. Pathophysiology

  1. Characteristics
    1. Campylobacter jejuni is a facultative Anaerobic Gram Negative Rod in Vibrionaceae family
    2. Like Vibrio species, Campylobacter jejuni is curved, and motile with a single polar flagellum
  2. Virulence
    1. Heat labile Enterotoxin (LT)
    2. Campylobacter jejuni binds and invades intestinal epithelium
      1. May spread systemically in Immunocompromised hosts
        1. Similar to Salmonella typhi or Yersinia enterocolitica
  3. Sources
    1. Natural Hosts: Wild birds and ducks (natural reservoir of zoonotic disease)
      1. Also found in domestic animals including poultry
    2. Waterborne Illness
      1. Fecal oral route of contaminated water
    3. Foodborne Illness
      1. Gastroenteritis (sporadic cases of Traveler's Diarrhea are common)
      2. Outbreaks (e.g. unpasteurized milk, esp. in children)

IV. Risk Factors

V. Symptoms

  1. Course
    1. Onset in 3-5 days
    2. Duration 2-10 days
  2. Prodrome
    1. Low grade fever (>50% of cases)
    2. Headache
    3. Myalgias
    4. Abdominal Pain or cramping
  3. Watery, bloody Diarrhea (follows prodrome by <1 day)
    1. Diarrhea is self limited in immunocompetent hosts
    2. Mild cases: Asymptomatic excretion
    3. Severe cases: Dysentery (with bloody Diarrhea)

VI. Labs

  1. Stool Culture
    1. Very difficult to culture
    2. Requires selective growth medium (Campy Blood Agar)
  2. Darkfield microscopy
  3. Phase contrast microscopy

VII. Management: Antibiotics

  1. Antibiotic indications (longer course for Immunocompromised patients)
    1. Dysentery (Inflammatory Diarrhea)
    2. Sepsis
    3. May be indicated in enteritis
  2. First-line agents
    1. Azithromycin (Zithromax) 500 mg orally daily for 3 days
    2. Treat for 14 days if associated with bacteremia (which is rare)
  3. Alternative agents
    1. Erythromycin 500 mg orally four times daily for 3 days
    2. Ciprofloxacin 500 mg orally twice daily for 5 days
      1. Fluoroquinolone (high resistance rate >50-85%)
  4. References
    1. (2016) Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy, accessed 5/7/2016

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Ontology: Campylobacter jejuni (C0006819)

Definition (NCI_CDISC) Any bacterial organism that can be assigned to the species Campylobacter jejuni.
Definition (NCI) A species of microaerophilic, Gram-negative, curved or spiral bacilli assigned to the phylum Proteobacteria. This species is motile with a flagellum at each pole, non-spore forming, oxidase positive, and hydrolyzes hippurate. C. jejuni is the most common pathogen in the United States causing bacterial diarrhea and gastroenteritis and is also linked to Guillain Barre syndrome.
Definition (MSH) A species of bacteria that resemble small tightly coiled spirals. Its organisms are known to cause abortion in sheep and fever and enteritis in man and may be associated with enteric diseases of calves, lambs, and other animals.
Concepts Bacterium (T007)
MSH D016123
SnomedCT 66543000
LNC LP17110-5
Swedish Campylobacter jejuni
Czech Campylobacter jejuni
Finnish Campylobacter jejuni
Croatian CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI
English campylobacter jejuni, campylobacter jejuni organism, Campylobacter jejuni (Jones et al. 1931) Veron and Chatelain 1973, Campylobacter fetus subsp. jejuni, Vibrio hepaticus, Vibrio jejuni, CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI, Campylobacter fetus ss. jejuni, Campylobacter jejuni (organism), Campylobacter jejuni
Polish Campylobacter jejuni
Norwegian Campylobacter jejuni
Spanish Campylobacter fetus, subespecie jejuni, Campylobacter jejuni (organismo), Campylobacter jejuni
French Campylobacter jejuni
German Campylobacter jejuni
Italian Campylobacter jejuni
Russian CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI
Dutch Campylobacter jejuni
Portuguese Campylobacter jejuni