Campylobacteriosis: an immunity-focused view

Campylobacteriosis is a debilitating and widespread gastrointestinal disease in both developed and developing countries. In spite of very significant attention to control contamination of food products, relatively little progress has been made in curbing human illness. We propose that differences in human susceptibility, especially via an adaptive immunity response, is a key factor to unravel the continuing, widespread and baffling trends in incidence of campylobacteriosis. This recognizes that Campylobacter species are widespread in the environment (a so-called miasma view) and that although the focus on select contaminated foods has not been definitive, it may provide a means to develop a specific/defined geographic region community-wide immunity approach.