Vaccines against Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the most common causes of diarrhea worldwide. The gastrointestinal manifestations of Campylobacter infection range from watery diarrhea to severe dysentery. Campylobacter infection has also been linked to the postinfectious sequelae of reactive arthritis and Guillain-Barre syndrome. Evidence from epidemiologic and volunteer studies suggests that development of a vaccine to prevent gastrointestinal disease and limit colonization is possible. Efforts to develop live attenuated or subunit vaccines are limited by the finite knowledge of Campylobacter pathogenesis and lack of a conserved protective antigen, respectively. An oral killed, whole-cell vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective in animal models and is currently being tested in phase I volunteer studies.