Campylobacteriosis

Campylobacteriosis is an infection by one of the species of Campylobacter bacteria, particularly Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni). Diarrhea is typically caused by this infection. The illness may cause fever and abdominal cramps.

Humans usually become infected after eating prepared beef, notably undercooked chicken. Campylobacter is one of the very frequent bacterial causes of disease that is senile.

Babies possess a particularly high amount of campylobacteriosis due to their immune guards. Teenagers are at higher risk of illness because they will have experience cooking and handling raw meats. Thus, they may be exposed to foods.

As they older healthy individuals develop some level of resistance against Campylobacter. This can account in older adults and middleaged.

Milk and untreated water can be also contaminated by Campylobacter besides being transmitted to humans in tainted, undercooked meat. Additionally, Campylobacter bacteria sometimes overtake humans who`ve managed raw meat (particularly poultry), touched a sick pet that`s nausea, or traveled to undeveloped countries where sanitation is poor. This isn`t common although it is possible to develop campylobacteriosis after contact with an infected individual.

People with weakened immune systems are likely to become infected with Campylobacter. They tend to have symptoms which are acute.

Symptoms

Some people who`ve a Campylobacter infection have mild symptoms, such as a loose stools per day. Since the indicators would resolve by themselves these individuals would not seek medical care.

When full-blown symptoms occur, they often begin two to seven days after contact with Campylobacter. At first, you may have a 12- to 48-hour amount of fever, headache, muscle aches, and malaise (a general feeling of sickness). These symptoms are followed closely closely by crampy abdominal pain and nausea, sometimes with throwing up and nausea. There can be around 10 stools watery stools per day. You may notice some blood in the feces.

Diagnosis

Your doctor may suspect you have some sort of food-related disease predicated in your history and symptoms. If your symptoms are not severe and very typical, the treatment for most food-related illnesses is the same. The only solution to confirm that you definitely have been infected with Campylobacter will be to collect a stool sample for examination in a lab (called a stool civilization ). But there is a culture frequently not mandatory.

Some patients have symptoms which are not typical. In those circumstances, the culture would be sent by the physician and recommend additional tests such as CT scan.

Expected Duration

In adults that have normal immune defenses, Campylobacter illness is usually a self-limited disease that disappears on its own over seven to ten days. With antibiotic treatment, symptoms frequently stop sooner in about five days.

Prevention

Ground beef veal and uncooked chicken are all sources of Campylobacter. To help prevent infection:

Cook poultry and meat thoroughly

Wash your hands after handling meat and raw poultry

Wash kitchen countertops and utensils thoroughly after they`ve been used to organize chicken and meat.

You can lower your risk without drinking unpasteurized milk or untreated water.

If your pet becomes sick with nausea, wash the hands after you have cared for it. Keep pets together with weakened immune processes off from family members, elderly family members, and babies.

Therapy

The very first goal in treating Campylobacter-related diarrhea is to replace lost body fluids and electrolytes (substances involved in many body processes). You could be in danger of developing dehydration When you`ve got severe nausea. To care for your dehydration, your physician will prescribe oral or intravenous (IV) fluids.

Because Campylobacter infections usually are self-limited, your doctor may not treat you with an antibiotic if you are otherwise healthy. Yet, antibiotic treatment is necessary from the following situations:

You have acute symptoms, including fever, bloody diarrhea, and over eight stools per day.

Your symptoms worsen or persist after seven days.

You have an underlying disease that disrupts the immune system.

Laboratory cultures have identified Campylobacter bacteria in your blood.

C. jejuni infections respond to many different antibiotics. The most commonly used antibiotics are azithromycin (Zithromax), levofloxacin (Levaquin) and ciprofloxacin (Cipro).

To slow the nausea, your doctor may recommend loperamide (Imodium, generic variants ) or alternative antidiarrheal medication.

When To Call a Specialist

Telephone your doctor promptly in the event that you develop diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, or acute pain. Your physician will consider Campylobacter infection as one of several reasons for the symptoms. Babies, elderly adults and individuals with a weakened immune system need urgent medical investigation should they develop symptoms of Campylobacter illness.

Prognosis

Most otherwise healthy adults recover from Campylobacter illness within a few days. Occasionally diarrhea may persist for up to 10 days. Complications other than dehydration are uncommon. 1 complication is Guillain-Barré syndrome. In this circumstance, Campylobacter Jejuni somehow triggers the immune system to attack nerves, resulting in weakness and sometimes paralysis.

In patients with reactive arthritis, a Campylobacter infection can cause an arthritis flare in one or more joints, usually over seven to ten days after the nausea begins.

External sources

National Center for Infectious DiseasesOffice of Health CommunicationCenters for Disease Control and PreventionMailstop C-141600 Clifton Rd., NEAtlanta, GA 30333Toll-Free: -LRB-888-RRB- 232-3228http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/

Further advice

Always consult your healthcare provider to ensure the information displayed on these pages relates to your personal circumstances.