Antimicrobial Resistance in Helicobacter and Campylobacter

Abstract

Helicobacter and Campylobacter are Gram-negative spiral fl agellated bacteria that inhabit and cause diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Despite early microscopic observations of “Vibrio-like” organisms in blood, stool and gastric contents, the role of these two genera in infectious disease was established only recently. Campylobacter was fi rst generally accepted as an important fecal pathogen in the 1970s, when improvements in culture methods made it feasible to study the role of Campylobacter systematically in diarrheal disease (1). Today, it is recognized as one of the leading causes of foodborne gastroenteritis in the United States and worldwide, with Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli being the most commonly isolated species. It is also the most common antecedent microbial infection of Guillain–Barré syndrome (2). Campylobacter are enteric commensals in several animal hosts, which include various avian and mammalian species from which most infections are thought to originate. Helicobacter is a common microbial constituent of the mammalian gastric mucosa. Despite the fact that they commonly persist in the human stomach asymptomatically, infection by Helicobacter pylori is the most important risk factor for peptic ulcers and gastric cancers (3). The relatively recent realization of the importance of Campylobacter and Helicobacter in human illness has sparked intensive research over the past 20 years into the epidemiology, microbiology, and treatment of diseases caused by these organisms.