Reservoirs for human campylobacteriosis

The epidemiology of human enteric infection due to Campylobacter fetus subspeciesje-juni is not well understood. To determine whether an endogenous human reservoir is present, the rates of isolation of C. fetus subspecies jejuni from several populations of diarrheal and asymptomatic adults and children were compared. C. fetus subspecies je-juni was recovered from 4.1070 of patients with diarrhea and 66.7 % of household con-tacts of the index patients who themselves had diarrhea. Carriage of organisms in most untreated patients lasted less than three weeks from onset of symptoms. C. fetus subspecies jejuni was rarely recovered from the feces of asymptomatic individuals and not at all from the vaginal flora of 272 women. Domestic animals, especially puppies with diarrhea, were frequently infected with Campylobacter and may represent a signifi-cant reservoir for human infection. Campylobacter fetus subspecies jejuni (formerly known as Vibrio fetus) has been increasingly recognized as a cause of human enteric disease [1]. Studies in Europe, Africa, North America, an