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 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 human immunodeficiency virus, 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.

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.

Your doctor may suspect that you have some sort of food-related illness based on your history and symptoms. However, the only way to confirm that you definitely have been infected with Campylobacter is to collect a stool sample and examine it in a laboratory. Some patients have symptoms that are not typical, and the doctor may need to do further tests to check for other intestinal disorders, such as appendicitis, ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.

In adults who have normal immune defenses, Campylobacter infection is usually a self-limited illness that goes away on its own within 7 to 10 days. With antibiotic treatment, symptoms often stop sooner, usually in about 5 days.

Without treatment, the illness returns in up to 5% to 10% of otherwise healthy people. Such relapses are more common in people with weakened immune defenses.

According to studies cited by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Campylobacter has been found in a significant percent of uncooked commercial chicken, raw veal and raw ground beef. Because of these high contamination rates, it is very important to cook all meat thoroughly before you eat it, to wash your hands after handling raw meat, and to wash kitchen countertops and utensils thoroughly after they have been used to prepare meat. You also can help to reduce your risk by never drinking unpasteurized milk or untreated water.

If your pet becomes sick with diarrhea, wash your hands thoroughly after you have cared for it. Keep sick pets away from infants, elderly family members and family members with weakened immune systems.

The first goal in treating Campylobacter-related diarrhea is to replace lost body fluids and electrolytes (chemical substances involved in many body processes). If you have severe diarrhea, you may be at risk of developing dehydration. To treat your dehydration, your doctor will prescribe oral or intravenous (IV) fluids. Because Campylobacter infections are usually self-limited, your doctor may not treat you with an antibiotic if you are otherwise healthy. However, antibiotic treatment is usually necessary in the following situations:

• You have severe symptoms, including high fever, bloody diarrhea and more than eight stools per day.
• Your symptoms persist or worsen after seven days.
• You have an underlying illness that weakens the immune system.
• Laboratory cultures have identified Campylobacter bacteria in your blood.

C. jejuni infections respond to a variety of antibiotics. The most commonly used antibiotics are erythromycin (numerous brand names), azithromycin (Zithromax), clarithromycin (Biaxin), ciprofloxacin (Cipro) and levofloxacin (Levaquin). Doctors also may prescribe an antidiarrheal medication.

Call your doctor promptly if you develop symptoms of Campylobacter infection, especially if you have a high fever, severe diarrhea, bloody diarrhea or severe abdominal pain. Call your doctor immediately if an infant, an elderly adult or a person with a weakened immune system develops symptoms of Campylobacter infection.

Most otherwise healthy adults recover from Campylobacter infection in two to five days. Occasional mild diarrhea may last for another week. Perhaps 5% to 10% of untreated adults (most commonly people with AIDS) have the illness return. Although campylobacteriosis is rarely fatal, a severe infection may cause death in infants, the elderly and people with other illnesses.

About 1 in every 1,000 people with Campylobacter develops a complication called Guillain-Barr� Syndrome, an illness that attacks the myelin (a fatty sheathlike covering) around nerves, causing paralysis. Although Guillain-Barr� Syndrome can be triggered by several infectious illnesses, current research shows that some patients with Guillain-Barr� Syndrome have laboratory evidence of a recent C. jejuni infection.

In patients with Reiter's syndrome, a Campylobacter infection can trigger an arthritis flare in one or more joints, usually within 7 to 10 days after the diarrhea begins.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30333
Toll-Free: 1-800-232-4636
TTY: 1-888-232-6348
http://www.cdc.gov/travel/