Campylobacter

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Campylobacter

The genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
Campylobacter, (meaning 'twisted bacteria') first discovered in 1963, describes Gram-negative

Gram-negative

Gram-negative bacteria are those bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol. In a Gram stain test, a counterstain is added after the crystal violet, coloring all Gram-negative bacteria with a red or pink color....
, spiral, microaerophilic bacteria. Motile, with either uni- or bi-polar flagella, the organisms have a characteristic spiral/corkscrew

Corkscrew

A corkscrew is a tool for drawing Cork from wine bottles. Generally, it consists of a pointed metallic helix attached to a handle. The user grips the handle and screws the metal point through the cork , entwining the cork and corkscrew so that moving one moves the other....
appearance (see photo) and are oxidase

Oxidase

An oxidase is any enzyme that catalyst an redox reaction involving molecular oxygen as the electron acceptor. In these reactions, oxygen is reduced to water or hydrogen peroxide ....
-positive. Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni is a species of curved, rod-shaped, non-spore forming, Gram-negative microaerophilic, bacteria commonly found in animal feces....
is now recognized as one of the main causes of bacterial foodborne disease in many developed countries. At least a dozen species of Campylobacter have been implicated in human disease, with C. jejuni
Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni is a species of curved, rod-shaped, non-spore forming, Gram-negative microaerophilic, bacteria commonly found in animal feces....
and C.

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Encyclopedia

The genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
Campylobacter, (meaning 'twisted bacteria') first discovered in 1963, describes Gram-negative
Gram-negative

Gram-negative bacteria are those bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol. In a Gram stain test, a counterstain is added after the crystal violet, coloring all Gram-negative bacteria with a red or pink color....
, spiral, microaerophilic bacteria. Motile, with either uni- or bi-polar flagella, the organisms have a characteristic spiral/corkscrew
Corkscrew

A corkscrew is a tool for drawing Cork from wine bottles. Generally, it consists of a pointed metallic helix attached to a handle. The user grips the handle and screws the metal point through the cork , entwining the cork and corkscrew so that moving one moves the other....
appearance (see photo) and are oxidase
Oxidase

An oxidase is any enzyme that catalyst an redox reaction involving molecular oxygen as the electron acceptor. In these reactions, oxygen is reduced to water or hydrogen peroxide ....
-positive. Campylobacter jejuni
Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni is a species of curved, rod-shaped, non-spore forming, Gram-negative microaerophilic, bacteria commonly found in animal feces....
is now recognized as one of the main causes of bacterial foodborne disease in many developed countries. At least a dozen species of Campylobacter have been implicated in human disease, with C. jejuni
Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni is a species of curved, rod-shaped, non-spore forming, Gram-negative microaerophilic, bacteria commonly found in animal feces....
and C. coli the most common. C. fetus
Campylobacter fetus

Campylobacter fetus is a species of Gram-negative, motile bacterium with a characteristic "S-shaped" rod morphology similar to members of the genus Vibrio...
is a cause of spontaneous abortions in cattle
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
and sheep
Sheep

#REDIRECT Domestic sheep...
, as well as it is an opportunisitic pathogen
Pathogen

A pathogen , infectious agent, or germ, is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its Host .There are several substrates and pathways whereby pathogens can invade a host; the principal pathways have different episodic time frames, but soil contamination has the longest or most persistent potential for harboring...
in humans.

Genome
The genome
Genome

In classical genetics, the genome of a diploid organism including eukarya refers to a full set of chromosomes or genes in a gamete; thereby, a regular somatic cell contains two full sets of genomes....
s of several Campylobacter species have been sequenced, providing insights into their mechanisms of pathogenesis. The first Campylobacter genome to be sequenced was C. jejuni, in 2000.

Campylobacter species contain two flagellin
Flagellin

Flagellin is a protein that arranges itself in a hollow cylinder to form the filament in bacterial flagellum. It has a mass of about 30,000 to 60,000 Atomic mass unit....
genes in tandem for motility, flaA and flaB. These genes undergo intergenic recombination, further contributing to their virulence. Non-motile mutants do not colonize.

Pathogenesis

Campylobacteriosis is an infection
Infection

An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. In an infection, the infecting organism seeks to utilize the host resources to multiply ....
by campylobacter. The common routes of transmission are fecal-oral, person-to-person sexual contact, ingestion of contaminated food or water, and the eating of raw meat. It produces an inflammatory, sometimes bloody, diarrhea
Diarrhea

In medicine, diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea , is characterized by frequent loose or liquid bowel movements. The spelling of "diarrhea" is an appropriation of the Greek "diarrhoia" meaning "a flowing through." ....
, periodontitis or dysentery
Dysentery

Dysentery is a disorder of the digestive system that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the feces. If untreated, Dysentery can be fatal....
syndrome, mostly including cramps, fever and pain. The infection is usually self-limiting and in most cases, symptomatic treatment by reposition of liquid and electrolyte replacement is enough in human infections. The use of antibiotics, on the other hand, is controversial.

Cause
The exact cause of campylobacteriosis has not been clarified yet, but seem to involve multiple mechanisms. One mechanism is invasion into epithelial cells of the gut, which is generally low, but damages these cells. The sites of tissue injury include the jejunum
Jejunum

The jejunum is the middle section of the small intestine in most higher vertebrates, including mammals, reptiles, and birds. In fish, the divisions of the small intestine are not as clear and the terms middle intestine or mid-gut may be used instead of jejunum....
, the ileum
Ileum

The ileum is the final section of the small intestine in most higher vertebrates, including mammals, reptiles, and birds. In fish, the divisions of the small intestine are not as clear and the terms posterior intestine or distal intestine may be used instead of ileum....
, and the colon
Colon (anatomy)

The colon is the last portion of the digestive system in most vertebrates; it extracts water and salt from feces before they are defecation from the body....
.

Most strains of C jejuni produce a toxin (cytodistending toxin) that hinders the cells to divide and activate the immune system. This helps the bacteria to evade immune system and survive for a limited time in the cells. For a while, it was thought that also a cholera
Cholera

Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by enterotoxin-producing strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae....
-like enterotoxin was made, but this appeared not to be the case. The organism produces diffuse, bloody, edematous, and exudative enteritis. In a small number of cases, the infection may be associated with hemolytic uremic syndrome and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura
Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is a rare disease of the coagulation system, causing extensive microscopic blood clots to form in the small blood vessels throughout the body ....
through a poorly understood mechanism.

See also

Periodontal disease

External links