ABSTRACT
Spiral campylobacter-like organisms were first observed microscopically from the stool of children by Escherich in 1886. Between 1909 and 1944, there were a growing number of reports of similar “vibrio-like” organisms isolated from bovine and ovine sources, but they were not isolated from humans until 1938, in association with a milk-borne outbreak of gastroenteritis where blood cultures were positive for organisms resembling “Vibrio jejuni.”( 1 ) The microaerobic vibrios were assigned to the new genus Campylobacter in 1963,( 2 ) and included just two species: Campylobacter fetus and Campylobacter bubulus (now Campylobacter sputorum). Campylobacters were first successfully isolated from stool in the late 1960s using a filtration technique.( 1 ) Later, the development of selective media brought the routine isolation of Campylobacter into the clinical microbiology setting and Campylobacter spp. rapidly became recognized as a common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis. The taxonomic structure of Campylobacter has changed substantially since its inception in 1963, first with a comprehensive study of the taxonomy of the genus in 1973.( 3 ) By the late 1980s, there was a rapid increase in classification at the species level, and 14 species had been described (see review by Penner).( 4 )
