Campylobacter jejuni: A Review of its Characteristics, Pathogenicity, Ecology, Distribution, Subspecies Characterization and Molecular Methods of Detection

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni is considered to be the leading cause of enteric illness in the United States and other industrialized nations, causing mild to severe symptoms including serious infections of the extremities and permanent neurological symptoms. The organism is a cytochrome oxidase positive, microaerophilic, curved Gram-negative rod exhibiting corkscrew motility and is carried in the intestine of many wild and domestic animals, particularly avian species including poultry, where the intestine is colonized resulting in healthy animals as carriers. Wildlife have long been considered an infectious reservoir for campylobacters because of their close association with and contamination of surface waters. This review deals with the areas of: phenotypic characteristics of C. jejuni and related human pathogenic species of Campylobacter, their ecological distribution, virulence factors, isolation of C. jejuni from foods, serotyping of Campylobacter isolates, bacteriophage typing, molecular methods of detecting and typing campylobacters, the viable but nonculturable state of campylobacters, the coccoid form of C. jejuni and immunomagnetic capture of C. jejuni.

Impact of Rurality, Broiler Operations, and Community Socioeconomic Factors on the Risk of Campylobacteriosis in Maryland

“…(Hörman, 2004). This is consistent with the fact that the majority of Campylobacteraceae are not able to multiply outside of animal hosts and survive poorly in the environment due to light and temperature sensitivity (Levin, 2007).…”

“…(Snelling, 2005) It is suggested that since thermophilic Campylobacter species grow best between 37°C and 42°C, but not below 30°C that they be called thermotolerant (Levin, 2007). This is significant insofar as it relates to survival rates of Campylobacter on food contact surfaces.…”

Survival mechanisms and culturability of Campylobacter jejuni under stress conditions

“…It is frequently isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of birds, humans and other mammals (Stintzi 2003;Alter and Scherer 2006;Murphy et al 2006). Symptoms of C. jejuni infection in humans can be mild (including diarrhoea) and occasionally severe, leading to meningitis, pneumonia, miscarriage, and Guillain-Barré syndrome (Levin 2007).…”

Prevalence of Thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. in Chicken Meat in Croatia and Multilocus Sequence Typing of a Small Subset of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli Isolates

“…In the Republic of Croatia, campylobacteriosis has been a notifiable disease since 2007, with 1642 cases reported in 2014, ranking it the leading zoonosis in the country (3). Campylobacter is a genus of ubiquitous bacteria that have been isolated from a great variety of sources including water, soil, insects, domestic and wild mammals, domestic poultry, and wild birds (4). Meat from intensive poultry production, primarily broilers, is the main source of campylobacteriosis in humans.…”