By Azam Ali Sher | Michigan State University

Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of foodborne diarrheal infections in the USA (Scallan et al., 2011). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates there are around 1.5 million human cases of campylobacteriosis reported annually in the USA and $270 million in direct medical costs (CDC., 2019). A recent report on drug-resistant pathogens from the CDC revealed that 28% of all Campylobacter isolates in the USA were drug-resistant (CDC., 2019). Thus, Campylobacter has become a significant threat to public health, which drives the need to examine its survival and evolutionary mechanisms in all sources of this pathogen.

Campylobacter can survive in many different places including the gastrointestinal tracts of humans and many animals as well as in environmental sites. Evolution of pathogenic bacteria permits them to survive in novel environments. In fact, without insight into pathogen evolution mechanisms, it is difficult to understand disease transmission, pathogenesis, and the emergence of antibiotic resistance. However, many previous evolution studies were performed using laboratory-adapted bacterial strains rather than clinically relevant pathogens such as C. jejuni.

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