Campylobacter jejuni: a Comprehensive Review of a Leading Foodborne Zoonotic Pathogen

Campylobacter jejuni is the main bacterial cause of gastroenteritis around the world and poses a major public health challenge. This bacterium lives in the digestive tracts of many animals and is a key zoonotic agent. Poultry are the main source, but cattle, sheep, wild birds, and pets also play a role in spreading it to the environment and people. People usually get infected through the fecal-oral route, most often by eating undercooked poultry, drinking unpasteurized milk, consuming contaminated water, or having direct contact with infected animals. Symptoms of C. jejuni infection can be mild or lead to serious long-term effects, such as Guillain–Barré syndrome. Because it spreads between animals and humans, C. jejuni shows how animal health, food safety, and human health are closely linked. This review brings together current knowledge about C. jejuni, focusing on its impact on public health, its microbiology, how it causes disease, how it interacts with hosts, and the growing issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). It pays special attention to how the bacteria persist, including forming biofilms, adapting their metabolism, and changing their characteristics to survive in animals, food processing environments, and the outside world. The increase in multidrug-resistant strains, often due to antibiotic use in food animals, highlights the urgent need for control strategies that consider animal, human, and environmental health together. The review also looks at advances in genomics and new ways to prevent and treat infection, such as vaccines and alternative antimicrobials, as important tools to help reduce the global impact of campylobacteriosis.