Isolation of Campylobacter fetus from recent cases of human vibriosis.

Campylobacter fetus was isolated from five recent cases of human vibriosis, of which two were adults and three were children. One adult presented with pericarditis and the other with recurrent pyrexia. Campylobacter fetus subsp. intestinalis which resembled cattle strains serologically, was isolated under CO2 or anaerobic conditions from blood cultures of these patients. Two of the three children had kwashiorkor and the third was only 8 days old. Isolates identified as Campylobacter fetus subsp. jejuni were cultured from blood of these patients, two of whom had diarrhoea. Three patients succumbed, despite adequate antibiotic therapy. The epidemiology of the disease is discussed and it is suggested that infection may have been from the patients' own flora.