ABSTRACT
Campylobacter jejuni infection in man produces a wide spectrum of symptoms but is generally manifest as gastroenteritis beginning with a prodromal fever of 1 to 2 days duration, followed by severe abdominal pain and watery diarrhea with stools containing blood, leukocytes, and mucus. The disease is usually self-limiting with termination of diarrhea by day 7 of the infection although persistent or relapsing diarrhea is not infrequent. Campylobacters have been implicated as the causative agent of swine dysentery, winter scours in cattle, bluecomb disease in turkeys, abortion in sheep, abortion and infertility in cattle, avian vibrionic hepatitis of chickens, and enteritis in many species including primates, dogs, and cats. The experimental animal infections mentioned so far, would be outside the facilities of most laboratories as well as being expensive and difficult to handle. The establishment of an enteric infection is dependent on the bacterial factors, instrumental in colonization, being more efficient than the host defense mechanisms directed at prevention of colonization.
