A review of Campylobacter infection during pregnancy: a focus on C. jejuni

Campylobacter is the leading cause of acute infectious diarrhea in most industrialized countries. Campylobacter has been associated with an increased risk of spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, and preterm delivery. Campylobacter should be actively sought in pregnant women with enteritis, and erythromycin should be initiated promptly. Pregnancy predisposes to both less common presentations such as fever, as well as disseminated infection. Upon the suspicion of bacteremia, blood cultures should be drawn and intravenous antibiotics, usually erythromycin and gentamycin, should be started immediately. Guillain-Barre syndrome and Reiter’s syndrome are two potentially devastating sequelae of infection with Campylobacter.