Campylobacter Infections Today

In the 1960s, fewer than 25% of persons with acute diarrhea had a pathogen identified by stool examination. Today, as many as 65% to 85% of patients have a causative agent identified.1In addition to better culturing techniques, new organisms have been discovered. Among these,Campylobacter jejuniis the most important. Finch and Riley2estimated that more than 16,000 people acquiredCampylobacterinfections in the United States in 1982. Diarrhea caused byCampylobacterwas as common asSalmonellaand more common thanShigella. These results are even more striking because many laboratories did not culture for the organism or report it. For comparison,C jejuniinfections in the United States in 1982 are estimated to have occurred at a rate roughly equal to that of hepatitis B, ten times that of influenza, and 30 times that of legionnaires' disease.3 The nomenclature forCampylobacterorganisms has changed recently