Campylobacteriosis

1. Verify the diagnosis. What laboratory tests were conducted and what were the results? Obtain demographic, clinical and laboratory information on the case from the provider and/or laboratory. Obtain the other epidemiological information necessary to complete the Record of Investigation of Enteric Illness (CD-2C) from the patient or a knowledgeable family member.

2. Establish the extent of illness. Have there been other cases linked by time, place or person?

Ask about illnesses among household, child care, hospital or long-term care, sexual and other contacts. Determine if the case provided child or patient care, or prepared food for anyone outside the household while symptomatic. Ask if the case lived or spent significant time in another household. If ill persons are identified, advise them to contact their medical provider. NOTE: Campylobacter fetus predominantly causes systemic illness in neonates and debilitated hosts.

3. Identify potential sources of infection. The information obtained from the public health investigation will be used to help identify the source.

• Does the case or a member of the case’s household attend a child care center or nursery school?
• Does the case or a member of the case’s household work as a food handler or health care provider?
• Does the case handle animals or otherwise have contact with feces from wild or domestic animals?
• What is the case’s primary source of drinking water?
• Has the case ingested untreated water from a lake or stream?
• Did the case eat raw or undercooked poultry?
• Has the case traveled recently?
• Has the case consumed unpasteurized dairy products?
• Have there been other cases linked by time, place or person?
• Is this case related to a food recall?

• NOTES: Person-to-person spread of Campylobacter occasionally occurs, particularly in very young children. While outbreaks of diarrhea in child care centers have been reported, they appear to be uncommon.2

   

4. Provide Campylobacter information to persons at risk for infection and the general public as needed. Efforts should be made to promote Campylobacter awareness and provide prevention information to the public to reduce the risk of campylobacteriosis. Cases should be educated on the importance of personal hygiene, particularly after using the toilet and before and after food handling. Information on campylobacteriosis prevention can be found on CDC’s website at: https://www.cdc.gov/campylobacter/prevention/index.html.

5. Campylobacter Surveillance. Review WebSurv to determine whether there have been other campylobacteriosis cases in your jurisdiction. When cases are related by person, place or time and serotype, efforts should be made to identify a common source. Information obtained through the public health investigation will be used to identify a possible source of infection and to characterize persons or geographic areas in which additional efforts are needed to raise awareness and reduce disease incidence.