Intestinal colonization of rats following experimental infection with Campylobacter jejuni.

Oral infection of rats with 10(6)-10(8) colony forming units per ml of Campylobacter jejuni resulted in prompt intestinal colonization. Campylobacter jejuni was recovered from rat faecal samples for four months post infection. The colonized rats did not succumb to clinical diarrhoea or pyrexia. The resistance of rats to C. jejuni clinical infection and their ability to shed the organism for protracted periods, make rats potential source of zoonotic campylobacteriosis.