PhD thesis - University of Hertfordshire Research Archive

2. History.
In contrast to other common gastrointestinal pathogens, the history of
campylobacters is comparatively short (detail provided in Appendix 1). This
relates largely to their exacting growth requirements (optimally 5-7% O2 and
10% CO2 at 42-43°C) rather than a lack of interest in them or their recent
emergence. Indeed, campylobacters were probably first described in 1886
by Theodore Escherich, who noted spiral bacteria in the intestinal mucus of
infants who had died of „cholera infantum‟ (Kist, 1985). However, he was
unable to grow the organisms and considered their role to be prognostic
rather than causative. These findings, along with similar observations made
by other German bacteriologists between 1887 and 1894, passed under the
medical radar at the time as they were published in German, and interest
waned due to a lack of culturability.
Research into the veterinary aspects of Campylobacter infection continued,
however, perhaps due to the economic impact of the microorganism in this
setting. Commissioned by the British Government to investigate epizootic
abortion in cattle and sheep which was not infrequent at the time,
McFadyean and Stockman were probably the first, in 1906, to isolate
campylobacters from the uterine mucus of a pregnant sheep from a flock of
ewes which was experiencing an abortion rate of 33% (Skirrow, 2006).
Theodore Smith and colleagues were the first to describe vibrionic abortion in
cattle in detail, to investigate their pathogenicity and to demonstrate their
antigenic similarity (Smith, 1918; Smith & Taylor, 1919b; Smith, 1919; Smith,
Little, & Taylor, 1920; Smith, 1923). They noted that the foetus suffered
secondarily as a result of increasing interference of the placental circulation
by the microorganism, which they named Vibrio fetus.
Attention then turned to the role of vibrios in diarrhoeal disease in animals.
Through repeated washing, grinding, suspension and culture of intestinal
mucosa, Jones, Orcutt and Little isolated, in 1931, tiny motile vibrios from
cows and calves suffering from „epidemic winter scours‟ (Jones & Little,
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