Eleven Campylobacter Species

Campylobacter is regarded as a leading cause of bacterial foodborne infection in many areas of the world. Campylobacter jejuni and, to a lesser extent, Campylobacter coli are important causes of human diarrheal illnesses, even surpassing Salmonella in importance in many countries. Although human illnesses are usually self‐limiting, the associated morbidity and cost are significant. In Europe, the burden of human campylobacteriosis is estimated to be between 8 and 100 times higher than the annually reported number of cases, which has approximated 200,000 in recent years. Such a high incidence of Campylobacter‐related diarrhea has significant socioeconomic impact, making this pathogen a priority for public health and food safety researchers. This chapter highlights the important bacteriological and epidemiologic features of contamination thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. (C. jejuni and C. coli) in the human food supply chain