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Journal ArticleDOI

Global Epidemiology of Campylobacter Infection

01 Jul 2015-Clinical Microbiology Reviews (American Society for Microbiology)-Vol. 28, Iss: 3, pp 687-720
TL;DR: Overall, campylobacteriosis is still one of the most important infectious diseases that is likely to challenge global health in the years to come.
Abstract: Campylobacter jejuni infection is one of the most widespread infectious diseases of the last century. The incidence and prevalence of campylobacteriosis have increased in both developed and developing countries over the last 10 years. The dramatic increase in North America, Europe, and Australia is alarming, and data from parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East indicate that campylobacteriosis is endemic in these areas, especially in children. In addition to C. jejuni, there is increasing recognition of the clinical importance of emerging Campylobacter species, including Campylobacter concisus and Campylobacter ureolyticus. Poultry is a major reservoir and source of transmission of campylobacteriosis to humans. Other risk factors include consumption of animal products and water, contact with animals, and international travel. Strategic implementation of multifaceted biocontrol measures to reduce the transmission of this group of pathogens is paramount for public health. Overall, campylobacteriosis is still one of the most important infectious diseases that is likely to challenge global health in the years to come. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the global epidemiology, transmission, and clinical relevance of Campylobacter infection.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Direct staining technique for Campylobacter had a very low sensitivity compared to culture, which might lead to a high rate of false negative results and an underestimation of the importance of campylobacteriaiosis.
Abstract: Campylobacter is a leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis, but sensitive diagnostic methods such as culture are expensive and often not available in resource limited settings. Therefore, direct staining techniques have been developed as a practical and economical alternative. We analyzed the impact of replacing Campylobacter staining with culture for routine stool examinations in a private hospital in Chile. From January to April 2014, a total of 750 consecutive stool samples were examined in parallel by Hucker stain and Campylobacter culture. Isolation rates of Campylobacter were determined and the performance of staining was evaluated against culture as the gold standard. Besides, isolation rates of Campylobacter and other enteric pathogens were compared to those of past years. Campylobacter was isolated by culture in 46 of 750 (6.1 %) stool samples. Direct staining only identified three samples as Campylobacter positive and reached sensitivity and specificity values of 6.5 and 100 %, respectively. In comparison to staining-based detection rates of previous years, we observed a significant increase of Campylobacter cases in our patients. Direct staining technique for Campylobacter had a very low sensitivity compared to culture. Staining methods might lead to a high rate of false negative results and an underestimation of the importance of campylobacteriosis. With the inclusion of Campylobacter culture, this pathogen became a leading cause of intestinal infection in our patient population.

11 citations


Cites background from "Global Epidemiology of Campylobacte..."

  • ...reporting of campylobacteriosis is common and in some regions, the epidemiology of this infection is incompletely understood [5]....

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  • ...In most South American countries, the epidemiological role of Campylobacter as an enteric pathogen is unknown, since systematic studies are scant and national surveillance programs are mostly absent [1, 5]....

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  • ...There has been a rise in the incidence of campylobacteriosis in the last ten years in most developed regions such as North America, Europe, and Australia [5]....

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  • ...In South America, the role of Campylobacter as an enteric pathogen is less clear, since epidemiological data are scant and inconclusive [1, 5, 6]....

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  • ...There has been a rise in the incidence of campylobacter- iosis in the last ten years in most developed regions such as North America, Europe, and Australia [5]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This model demonstrates that the dynamics of Campylobacter transmission can be captured by a model that assumes that the primary transmission of the pathogen occurs via insect vectors.
Abstract: Campylobacter's complicated dynamics and multiple transmission routes have made it difficult to describe using a mathematical framework. Vector-borne disease transmission has been proposed as a potential transmission route of Campylobacter with house flies acting as a mechanical vector. This study aimed to (i) determine if a basic SIR compartment model that included flies as a mechanical vector and incorporated a seasonally forced environment compartment could be used to capture the observed disease dynamics in Ontario, Canada, and (ii) use this model to determine potential changes to campylobacteriosis incidence using predicted changes to fly population size and fly activity under multiple climate change scenarios. The model was fit to 1 year of data and validated against 8 and 12 years of data. It accurately captured the observed incidence. We then explored changes in human disease incidence under multiple climate change scenarios. When fly activity levels were at a 25% increase, our model predicted a 28.15% increase in incidence by 2050 using the medium-low emissions scenario and 30.20% increase using the high emissions scenario. This model demonstrates that the dynamics of Campylobacter transmission can be captured by a model that assumes that the primary transmission of the pathogen occurs via insect vectors.

11 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a scalable approach to global disease surveillance that can continuously incorporate novel samples for source attribution and identify fine-scale variation in transmission potential, using Bayesian inference to analyse the relative affinity of C. jejuni strains.
Abstract: Campylobacteriosis is among the world's most common foodborne illnesses, caused predominantly by the bacterium Campylobacter jejuni. Effective interventions require determination of the infection source which is challenging as transmission occurs via multiple sources such as contaminated meat, poultry, and drinking water. Strain variation has allowed source tracking based upon allelic variation in multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) genes allowing isolates from infected individuals to be attributed to specific animal or environmental reservoirs. However, the accuracy of probabilistic attribution models has been limited by the ability to differentiate isolates based upon just 7 MLST genes. Here, we broaden the input data spectrum to include core genome MLST (cgMLST) and whole genome sequences (WGS), and implement multiple machine learning algorithms, allowing more accurate source attribution. We increase attribution accuracy from 64% using the standard iSource population genetic approach to 71% for MLST, 85% for cgMLST and 78% for kmerized WGS data using the classifier we named aiSource. To gain insight beyond the source model prediction, we use Bayesian inference to analyse the relative affinity of C. jejuni strains to infect humans and identified potential differences, in source-human transmission ability among clonally related isolates in the most common disease causing lineage (ST-21 clonal complex). Providing generalizable computationally efficient methods, based upon machine learning and population genetics, we provide a scalable approach to global disease surveillance that can continuously incorporate novel samples for source attribution and identify fine-scale variation in transmission potential.

11 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A narrow population bottleneck is characterized during the experimental colonization of broiler chickens with C. jejuni strain 81-176 to demonstrate the potential for confounding effects of PV on in vivo studies of Campylobacter colonization factors and poultry vaccine studies and an argument for population bottlenecks as mediators of stochastic variability in the propensity to survive through the food chain and cause clinical human disease.
Abstract: Phase variation (PV), involving stochastic switches in gene expression, is exploited by the human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni to adapt to different environmental and host niches. Phase-variable genes of C. jejuni modulate expression of multiple surface determinants, and hence may influence host colonization. Population bottlenecks can rapidly remove the diversity generated by PV, and strict single-cell bottlenecks can lead to propagation of PV states with highly divergent phenotypes. Using a combination of high-throughput fragment size analysis and comparison with in vivo and in silico bottleneck models, we have characterized a narrow population bottleneck during the experimental colonization of broiler chickens with C. jejuni strain 81-176. We identified high levels of variation in five PV genes in the inoculum, and subsequently, massively decreased population diversity following colonization. Each bird contained a dominant five-gene phasotype that was present in the inoculum indicative of random sorting through a narrow, non-selective bottleneck during colonization. These results are evidence of the potential for confounding effects of PV on in vivo studies of Campylobacter colonization factors and poultry vaccine studies. Our results are also an argument for population bottlenecks as mediators of stochastic variability in the propensity to survive through the food chain and cause clinical human disease.

11 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of Campylobacter infection on the chicken microbiome and colonization control strategies using probiotics (mostly lactic acid bacteria, LAB), which are live microorganisms included in the diet of animals as feed additives or supplements.
Abstract: Since 2005, campylobacteriosis has been the most common zoonotic disease in Europe. The main reservoir of pathogenic Campylobacter strains is broilers, which makes raw and undercooked poultry meat two major sources of disease. Infection in chicken flocks is most often asymptomatic, despite a high level of colonization reaching 106-109cfu/g in animal ceca. It is widely believed that controlling the level of colonization of the birds' digestive tract by pathogenic strains is a good way to increase food safety. Many treatments have been proposed to combat or at least reduce the level of colonization in animals reservoirs: probiotics, bacteriophages, vaccines, and anti-Campylobacter bacteriocins. This review focuses on the effects of Campylobacter infection on the chicken microbiome and colonization control strategies using probiotics (mostly lactic acid bacteria, LAB), which are live microorganisms included in the diet of animals as feed additives or supplements. Probiotics are not only an alternative to antibiotics, which were used for years as animal growth promoters, but they also constitute an effective protective barrier against excessive colonization of the digestive system by pathogenic bacteria, including Campylobacter. Moreover, one of the many beneficial functions of probiotics is the ability to manipulate the host's microbiota. Recently, there have also been some promising attempts to use lactic acid bacteria as a delivery system of oral vaccine against Campylobacter. Recombinant LAB strains induce primarily a mucosal immune response against foreign antigens, accompanied by at most a low-level immune response against carrier strains. Since the main barrier against the invasion of pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract is the intestinal mucosal membrane, the development of effective oral vaccines to protect animals against enteric infection is very reasonable.

11 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Interventions targeting five pathogens can substantially reduce the burden of moderate-to-severe diarrhoea and suggest new methods and accelerated implementation of existing interventions (rotavirus vaccine and zinc) are needed to prevent disease and improve outcomes.

2,766 citations


"Global Epidemiology of Campylobacte..." refers background in this paper

  • ...with moderate to severe diarrhea in children from Kolkata, India, Mirzapur, Bangladesh, and Karachi, Pakistan (66)....

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  • ...In addition, in a prospective case-control study conducted between 1 December 2007 and 3 March 2011 to identify the etiology of diarrhea in children aged 0 to 59 months, C. jejuni was reported to be significantly associated July 2015 Volume 28 Number 3 cmr.asm.org 693Clinical Microbiology Reviews on M arch 21, 2021 by guest http://cm r.asm .org/ D ow nloaded from with moderate to severe diarrhea in children from Kolkata, India, Mirzapur, Bangladesh, and Karachi, Pakistan (66)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Two important processes have occurred to legitimize these conditions, and to increase attention toward the research and clinical care of patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID), a shift in conceptualizing these disorders from a disease-based, reductionistic model, to a more integrated, biopsychosocial model of illness.

2,274 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Overabundance of Fusobacterium sequences in tumor versus matched normal control tissue is verified by quantitative PCR analysis from a total of 99 subjects, and a positive association with lymph node metastasis is observed.
Abstract: An estimated 15% or more of the cancer burden worldwide is attributable to known infectious agents. We screened colorectal carcinoma and matched normal tissue specimens using RNA-seq followed by host sequence subtraction and found marked over-representation of Fusobacterium nucleatum sequences in tumors relative to control specimens. F. nucleatum is an invasive anaerobe that has been linked previously to periodontitis and appendicitis, but not to cancer. Fusobacteria are rare constituents of the fecal microbiota, but have been cultured previously from biopsies of inflamed gut mucosa. We obtained a Fusobacterium isolate from a frozen tumor specimen; this showed highest sequence similarity to a known gut mucosa isolate and was confirmed to be invasive. We verified overabundance of Fusobacterium sequences in tumor versus matched normal control tissue by quantitative PCR analysis from a total of 99 subjects (p = 2.5 × 10(-6)), and we observed a positive association with lymph node metastasis.

1,535 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The composition of the microbiota in colorectal carcinoma is characterized using whole genome sequences from nine tumor/normal pairs and Fusobacterium sequences were enriched in carcinomas, confirmed by quantitative PCR and 16S rDNA sequence analysis of 95 carcinoma/normal DNA pairs.
Abstract: The tumor microenvironment of colorectal carcinoma is a complex community of genomically altered cancer cells, nonneoplastic cells, and a diverse collection of microorganisms. Each of these components may contribute to carcinogenesis; however, the role of the microbiota is the least well understood. We have characterized the composition of the microbiota in colorectal carcinoma using whole genome sequences from nine tumor/normal pairs. Fusobacterium sequences were enriched in carcinomas, confirmed by quantitative PCR and 16S rDNA sequence analysis of 95 carcinoma/normal DNA pairs, while the Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes phyla were depleted in tumors. Fusobacteria were also visualized within colorectal tumors using FISH. These findings reveal alterations in the colorectal cancer microbiota; however, the precise role of Fusobacteria in colorectal carcinoma pathogenesis requires further investigation.

1,527 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
02 Jul 1977-BMJ
TL;DR: Campylobacters are a relatively unrecognised cause of acute enteritis, but these findings suggest that they may be a common cause, and poultry may be the primary source of the organism.
Abstract: By selective culture campylobacters (C jejuni and C coli) were isolated from the faeces of 57 (7-1%) out of 803 unselected patients with diarrhoea; none were isolated from 194 people who had not got diarrhoea. Specific agglutinins were found in the sera of 31 out of 38 patients with campylobacter enteritis and 10 of them had a rising titre. Half the patients were aged 15 to 44 years, but the incidence was highest in young children. All the patients with campylobacters had a distinctive clinical illness with severe abdominal pain. Campylobacters are a relatively unrecognised cause of acute enteritis, but these findings suggest that they may be a common cause. Spread of infection was observed within 12 out of 29 households, and in these cases children were usually implicated. Several patients were apparently infected from chickens, both live and dressed, and poultry may be the primary source of the organism. In two cases dogs with diarrhoea were found to be infected with strains indistinguishable from their human contacts. Ten patients acquired their infections while travelling abroad.

1,431 citations