Campylobacter fetus of Reptile Origin as a Human Pathogen

A Campylobacter species was isolated from blood from a febrile patient with precursor T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and after antibiotic treatment, a similar bacterium was isolated from blood 37 days later. Although phenotypic testing did not definitively identify the organisms, molecular analysis indicated that they were the same strain of Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus and were of reptile origin.