2 comments — live from bluesky

Ben Pascoe · 1 · 1d ago
Exposure ≠ infection ≠ disease We often talk about “Campylobacter infection” as though it were a single event. But there are several steps: exposure → colonisation/infection → symptoms → clearance/persistence → possible sequelae
Ben Pascoe · 0 · 1d ago
In many high-income settings, #Campylobacter is familiar as an acute gastroenteritis: 🤒 diarrhoea, abdominal pain, fever usually resolving within days. But the cases we diagnose are only the visible part of the biology.
Ben Pascoe · 0 · 1d ago
In high-burden settings, #Campylobacter can be detected repeatedly in children without diarrhoea. In MAL-ED, ~85% of children across eight low-resource settings had experienced at least one Campylobacter-positive stool by their first birthday. 📝 journals.plos.org/plosntds/art...
Ben Pascoe · 0 · 1d ago
no diarrhoea ≠ no effect. Repeated/subclinical #Campylobacter infection has been associated with intestinal inflammation, increased permeability and poorer linear growth in young children. 📝 journals.plos.org/plosntds/art...
Ben Pascoe · 0 · 1d ago
And carriage isn't always brief. In a later MAL-ED analysis, almost half of children experienced at least one episode defined as persistent #Campylobacter infection during their first two years of life. 📝 www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl...
Ben Pascoe · 1 · 1d ago
For some people, the story doesn't end when the acute infection clears. #Campylobacter is associated with several post-infectious complications, including Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) a rare autoimmune neuropathy that can follow C. jejuni infection. 🏥 www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-con...
Ben Pascoe · 0 · 1d ago
GBS also shows us that strain biology matters. Certain C. jejuni surface structures can resemble human nerve gangliosides. The immune response generated against the bacterium can then cross-react with peripheral nerves. So two #Campylobacter infections do not carry the same risk.
Ben Pascoe · 0 · 1d ago
A more common longer-term consequence is post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome. In one large cohort of culture-confirmed #Campylobacter cases, around 21% of respondents without pre-existing IBS met criteria for PI-IBS 6–9 months later. 📝 www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Ben Pascoe · 0 · 1d ago
Why does one exposure produce no symptoms, another severe diarrhoea, and another a lasting complication? Probably some combination of: 🦠 bacterial genotype 🧬 bacterial dose & diversity 👤 host genetics/immunity 🦠 microbiome 🌍 repeated exposure/environment 👶 age and prior infection
Microbes.Info · 0 · 1d ago
😮