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Home Divisions Epidemiology and Response Infectious Disease Epidemiology Emerging Infections Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Campylobacter

Campylobacter

Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of diarrheal illness in the United States. People with Campylobacter infection (campylobacteriosis) usually have diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, and fever. The diarrhea can be bloody. Most patients recover in less than one week, even in the absence of antibiotic treatment; however, some people have a long illness or a recurrence of signs and symptoms. This disease is usually spread by eating contaminated water or food (especially undercooked chicken or pork), or by handling raw poultry. Infection can also result from direct contact with stool from infected pets or farm animals, and less commonly from stool of an infected person.

Campylobacter Infection in New Mexico and the United States

Active, population-based surveillance for Campylobacter has been conducted throughout New Mexico since 2004 as part of the New Mexico Emerging Infections Program (NMEIP) FoodNet system. Medical records for residents of New Mexico with Campylobacter infection are reviewed for demographic and other epidemiologic information. Through this surveillance system New Mexico FoodNet is able to examine and describe Campylobacter infections in the state. Data from New Mexico and other EIP FoodNet sites are aggregated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to generate national estimates.

During 2022, there were 587 confirmed and probable cases of campylobacteriosis identified in New Mexico, a rate of 27.7 per 100,000 population. The overall 2022 national EIP rate is 19.9 per 100,000. Western EIP states appear to have higher campylobacteriosis incidence than eastern EIP states; the states west of the Mississippi River (CA, CO, MN, OR) had an average rate of 24.4 per in 2022 (excluding New Mexico), while the states east of the Mississippi (CT, GA, MD, NY, TN) had an average rate of 16.3 per 100,000 in 2022. This disparity is representative across years; it is unknown why the rate disparities occur.

In New Mexico, disease rates were highest in persons in the zero to four age group (53.0/100,000). Overall, 53% of campylobacteriosis cases were male.

Of the cases with hospitalization data, 23% (n=47) were hospitalized. This is slightly elevated with reported national data from EIP, which estimates Campylobacter-associated hospitalization averaging 20%.

Data are from New Mexico FoodNET cases and may slightly differ from those reported to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). Case data for 2023 are still being finalized, making 2022 the most current information available. Please visit the New Mexico Infectious Disease Data page for additional data.



Figure 1: Incidence of Confirmed and Probable Campylobacter Infections, New Mexico and All FoodNet Sites, 2004-2022

Figure 1

References

  1. Samuel MC, Vugia DJ, Shallow S, Marcus R, Segler S, McGivern T, Kassenborg H, Reilly K, Kennedy M, Angulo FJ, Tauxe RV. Epidemiology of Sporadic Campylobacter Infection in the United States and Declining Trend in Incidence, FoodNet 1996 - 1999. Clinical Infectious Diseases Supplement 2004;38:165-174.
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preliminary FoodNet Data on the Incidence of Infection With Pathogens Transmitted Commonly Through Food—10 Sites, United States, 2004. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2005;54(14):352-356.
  3. Hughes, RA, Rees JH. Clinical and Epidemiological Features of Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Journal of Infectious Diseases 1997;17(1):104-108.
  4. Allos, BM. Campylobacter jejuni Infections: Update on Emerging Issues and Trends. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2001;32(8):1201-1206.