Campylobacter jejuni hepatitis in a horse: case report and literature review

Campylobacter spp. can cause gastroenteritis, hepatitis, bacteremia, and abortions in domestic animals and humans. Some Campylobacter spp. are zoonotic. To our knowledge, hepatitis caused by Campylobacter jejuni has not been reported in horses. Here we present a case of acute necrosuppurative hepatitis caused by C. jejuni infection in a 3-y-old gelding, and we review the literature on C. jejuni infections in various animal species. The horse had a one-week history of weight loss and weakness before becoming recumbent and dying. Grossly, the liver had rounded edges and was mottled. There were ecchymoses on the gastric serosa, and a large amount of mucoid, pale, green-to-yellow content adhered to the mucosa of the small and large intestines. Microscopically, random areas in the liver were necrotic and infiltrated by large numbers of neutrophils, and fewer lymphocytes and plasma cells. Other changes in the liver included neutrophilic cholangitis with bile duct hyperplasia in portal areas, canalicular cholestasis, and mild portal fibrosis. The lamina propria, and occasionally the submucosa, of the small intestine and colon was infiltrated by large numbers of lymphocytes and plasma cells, and there was multifocal crypt necrosis. C. jejuni was recovered in pure culture from the liver.