Campylobacter, Helicobacter and related organisms: an international conference and a global challenge

The international conferences on Campylobacter, Helicobacter and Related Organisms (CHRO) were established in 1981, predominantly as the public health impact of Campylobacter infections became increasingly recognised. The veterinary significance of bovine and ovine infections with Campylobacter fetus (resulting in either abortion or infertility, depending on the subspecies infecting the host) was already well established (Smith and Taylor, 1919). The conferences have been held biannually ever since. The 18th such conference – CHRO 2015 - was held in New Zealand. It was the first time in the history of CHRO conferences that an inaugural presentation secured the rights to host, making New Zealand an even more special destination

Minimal standards for describing new species belonging to the families Campylobacteraceae and Helicobacteraceae : Campylobacter, Arcobacter, Helicobacter and Wolinella spp.

Ongoing changes in taxonomic methods, and in the rapid development of the taxonomic structure of species assigned to the Epsilonproteobacteria have lead the International Committee of Systematic Bacteriology Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Campylobacter and Related Bacteria to discuss significant updates to previous minimal standards for describing new species of Campylobacteraceae and Helicobacteraceae. This paper is the result of these discussions and proposes minimum requirements for the description of new species belonging to the families Campylobacteraceae and Helicobacteraceae, thus including species in Campylobacter, Arcobacter, Helicobacter, and Wolinella. The core underlying principle remains the use of appropriate phenotypic and genotypic methods to characterise strains sufficiently so as to effectively and unambiguously determine their taxonomic position in these families, and provide adequate means by which the new taxon can be distinguished from extant species and subspecies. This polyphasic taxonomic approach demands the use of appropriate reference data for comparison to ensure the novelty of proposed new taxa, and the recommended study of at least five strains to enable species diversity to be assessed. Methodological approaches for phenotypic and genotypic (including whole-genome sequence comparisons) characterisation are recommended