Campylobacter jejuni: A bacterial paradox

Campylobacter jejuni has become recognized worldwide as a leading cause of diarrheal disease and foodborne gastroenteritis. Contaminated water, raw mi lk, and poultry appear to be the most common vehicles of transmission of C. jejuni in humans. It is estimated that C. jejuni causes between one to sev en million cases of enteritis per year in the United States, resulting in 1 00 to 500 deaths. Although some people believe C. jejuni causes more cases of food poisoning than any other single agent, C. jejuni has been demonstra ted to be extremely susceptible to a wide variety of antimicrobial treatmen ts, food processing methods, and environmental stresses, in addition to bei ng difficult to culture and maintain in the laboratory. The focus of this p aper is to overview the current status of C. jejuni, its epidemiological as pects, the fundamentals of its virulent capabilities, as well as to address the paradox that presents itself: How can an organism of such limited hard iness and growth capabilities be responsible for an ever-increasing level o f human foodborne disease?