Campylobacter

Pathogen

Campylobacter jejuni or Campylobacter coli
Largely a foodborne disease.
The organism inhabits the intestinal tracts of a wide range of animal hosts, notably poultry; contamination from these sources can lead to foodborne disease.
Campylobacter infection can also be transmitted via water-borne outbreaks and direct contact with animals or animal products.

The mean incubation period is three days
Early symptoms include abrupt onset of abdominal pain and diarrhea.
The acute illness is characterized by cramping periumbilical abdominal pain and diarrhea.
Patients frequently report ten or more bowel movements per day.
Bloody stools are observed on the second or third day of diarrhea in about 15 percent of adults; in children, bloody stools may be present in more than half of cases.
Diarrhea is self-limited and lasts for a mean of seven days.

Severe abdominal pain prior to onset of diarrhea can mimic acute appendicitis.
In some cases, diarrhea is absent (this is most frequently observed among children aged 6 to 15 years).
The pain is caused by acute ileocecitis.
On clinical examination, tenderness may be observed; rebound tenderness and guarding are usually absent.

Campylobacter infection usually starts in the jejunum and ileum and progresses distally to affect the cecum and colon.
In some patients present with acute colitis and bloody diarrhea, which can mimic the acute colitis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

The Reactive arthritis associated with Campylobacter enteritis is similar to arthritis that can occur following Salmonella, Shigella, and other bacterial diarrheal infections.

C. jejuni infection has been established as a trigger of GBS, an acute immune-mediated polyneuropathy

Supportive care − Campylobacter infection is usually a mild, self-limited infection.
For patients with severe disease or risk for severe disease, treatment with Azithromycin