| Description: |
Campylobacter jejuni is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic, flagellate, spiral bacterium. Campylobacter species are the leading cause of food-borne gastroenteritis in developed countries. Infection with C. jejuni is the most frequent antecedent to a form of neuromuscular paralysis known as Guillain-Barre syndrome. Campylobacter jejuni subsp. jejuni (strain 81-176) was originally isolated from the feces of an 9-year-old girl with diarrhea as the result of an outbreak of Campylobacteriosis associated with the consumption of raw milk on a dairy farm in Minnesota, USA during a third grade class field trip in 1981. It was passaged through human volunteer trials by Black et al., in 1987 and passaged again by Dr. Patricia Guerry's group, where it is proven to still cause human gastroenteritis. It is virulent in Rhesus macaques, ferrets, intranasally in mice, and colostrum-deprived piglets. The strain invades intestinal epithelial cells at levels that are as much as 3 logs higher than other invasive strains. (Adapted from TIGR). |
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