Campylobacter infection

Statutory notification

• Campylobacter infection is a notifiable infectious disease in Western Australia.
• Case definition: See Campylobacteriosis (external site) national surveillance case definition.
• Notifications: All suspected cases of APSGN including confirmed, probable and possible cases must be simultaneously notified to the local  public health unit and regional paediatric team to ensure appropriate clinical assessment and management is undertaken. Notify using the online (external site)  infectious diseases notification form (see Frequently Asked Questions for guidance).
• See also description of statutory medical notifications in Western Australia.

Public health summary

• Infectious agent: Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli are the most common types.
• Transmission:  Faecal-oral, food-borne and water-borne.
• Incubation period: 1 to 10 days (usually 2 to 5 days).
• Infectious period: Most infectious while symptomatic and low risk post recovery. Person to person transmission uncommon. Use contact transmission- based precautions for hospitalised and institutionalised patients.
• Case exclusion: Exclude until asymptomatic, including normal stools, for 24 hours. If patient works in health-care, aged-care or child-care is a food handler or attends child-care exclude until asymptomatic, including normal stools, for 48 hours. See Guidelines for Exclusion of People with Enteric Diseases and their Contacts (PDF 387KB).
• Contact exclusion: Guidelines for Exclusion of People with Enteric Diseases and their Contacts (PDF 387KB).
• Treatment: Oral rehydration and as recommended by the doctor.
• Immunisation:  None available.
• Case followup: Generally only clusters or outbreaks are investigated by the Communicable Disease Control Directorate (OzFoodNet), with assistance from local public health units as required. 

Guidelines for public health units

• Guidelines for the Public health management of notifiable enteric diseases (PDF 387KB)
• Guidelines for Exclusion of People with Enteric Diseases and their Contacts 
• Guidelines for the prevention and management of gastroenteritis outbreaks in residential care facilities (PDF 2.74MB) 
• Communicable Disease Guidelines for teachers, child care workers, local government authorities and medical practitioners

Notifiable disease data and reports

• Notifiable infectious disease dashboard
• General infectious disease reports