Campylobacteriosis is caused by Campylobacter bacteria (curved or spiral, motile, non–spore-forming, Gram-negative rods). The disease is usually caused by C. jejuni, a spiral and comma shaped bacterium normally found in cattle, swine, and birds, where it is nonpathogenic, 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).
One effect of campylobacteriosis is tissue injury in the gut. The sites of tissue injury include the jejunum, the ileum, and the colon. C jejuni appears to achieve this by invading and destroying epithelial cells.
C. jejuni can also cause a latent autoimmune effect on the nerves of the legs, which is usually seen several weeks after a surgical procedure of the abdomen. The effect is known as an acute idiopathic demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP), i.e. Guillain–Barré syndrome, in which one sees symptoms of ascending paralysis, dysaesthesias usually below the waist, and, in the later stages, respiratory failure.
Some strains of C jejuni produce a cholera-like enterotoxin, which is important in the watery diarrhea observed in infections. The organism produces diffuse, bloody, edematous, and exudative enteritis. In a small number of cases, the infection may be associated with hemolytic uremic syndrome and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura through a poorly understood mechanism.
Campylobacter organisms can be detected by performing a Gram stain of a stool sample with high specificity and a sensitivity of ~60%, but are most often diagnosed by stool culture. Fecal leukocytes should be present and indicate the diarrhea to be inflammatory in nature. Methods currently being developed to detect the presence of campylobacter organisms include antigen testing via an EIA or PCR.
The prodromal symptoms are fever, headache, and myalgia, which can be severe, lasting as long as 24 hours. After 1–5 days, typically, these are followed by diarrhea (as many as 10 watery, frequently bloody, bowel movements per day) or dysentery, cramps, abdominal pain, and fever as high as 40 °C (104 °F). In most people, the illness lasts for 2–10 days. It is classified as invasive/inflammatory diarrhea, also described as bloody diarrhea or dysentery.
There are other diseases showing similar symptoms. For instance, abdominal pain and tenderness may be very localized, mimicking acute appendicitis. Furthermore, Helicobacter pylori is closely related to Campylobacter and causes peptic ulcer disease.
Complications[edit] => Complications include toxic megacolon, dehydration and sepsis. Such complications generally occur in young children (< 1 year of age) and immunocompromised people. A chronic course of the disease is possible; this disease process is likely to develop without a distinct acute phase. Chronic campylobacteriosis features a long period of sub-febrile temperature and asthenia; eye damage, arthritis, endocarditis may develop if infection is untreated.
Occasional deaths occur in young, previously healthy individuals because of blood volume depletion (due to dehydration), and in persons who are elderly or immunocompromised.
Some individuals (1–2 in 100,000 cases) 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. This occurs only with infection of C. jejuni and C. upsaliensis.[2]
Other factors[edit] => In patients with HIV, infections may be more frequent, may cause prolonged bouts of dirty brown diarrhea, and may be more commonly associated with bacteremia and antibiotic resistance. In participants of unprotected anal intercourse, campylobacteriosis is more localized to the distal end of the colon and may be termed a proctocolitis. The severity and persistence of infection in patients with AIDS and hypogammaglobulinemia indicates that both cell-mediated and humoral immunity are important in preventing and terminating infection.