Native C. jejuni Antigen

The Campylobacter genus is one of the most common cause of food-borne diarrhoea in the world. Infections usually present as enteritis, accompanied by diarrhoea, rash and pain in the abdomen. Infections with campylobacter are on the rise across the developed world, taking over from Salmonella and Shigella in some regions as the leading cause of diarrhoea. Campylobacter most commonly carries itself by way of food and water infected with it, poultry, milk and untreated water. We know that C jejuni and C. coli are the primary organisms that cause human infections, and that C jejuni is the more commonly involved species than C. coli.

Figure 1. Reservoirs and routes of transmission of C. jejuni
(Source: Al Hakeem WG, et al. 2022)

The bacterium C. jejuni is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic organism that inhabits the intestines of domestic animals, poultry and others. A highly active bacteria causing human enteritis that can be smoked in raw meat, fungus-contaminated water, or consumed from infected animals. The patient is usually stricken with abdominal discomfort, diarrhoea, fever and vomiting after infected by C. jejuni. The infection will be present for 1-10 days and you will have symptoms for a week or more. C. jejuni is a public health crisis because the strain causes so many food-borne illness in the world. Infections can lead to serious complications, the most well-known being Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that causes damage to the peripheral nervous system. Additionally, reactive arthritis and irritable bowel syndrome are common long-term sequelae.

Detection of Campylobacter currently is based on conventional biochemical techniques: growth profiles on selective media, microscopy, and other biochemical markers. But this approach is expensive (average time 5 days), labour intensive, and lab conditions are strict. Additionally, it cannot differentiate between Campylobacter species with similar biochemical profiles. Campylobacter jejuni is the only Campylobacter species that can hydrolyse hippurate, and therefore it is the only biochemical marker to differentiate C. jejuni from C coli. As old-fashioned isolation and identification techniques proved to be impractical, new techniques of Campylobacter rapid detection emerged in the past few years. Immunological methods are widely used due to their high specificity, sensitivity, efficiency, low cost, ease of use, and lack of need for large equipment. These factors make them the most commonly applied detection method today. Although PCR offers advantages such as high sensitivity, accuracy, speed, and simplicity, it requires skilled personnel and specific expensive equipment, limiting its practical application.

Native Campylobacter jejuni Antigen