Acute colitis and bacteremia due to Campylobacter fetus

An acute febrile illness with dysentery and colitis developed in a 26-year-old man following a wilderness outing. Campylobacter fetus ssp. jejuni was subsequently grown on blood cultures drawn during the acute illness and 9 days later when the patient was asymptomatic. Proctosigmoidoscopic and histopathologic evidence of acute colitis was present on admission and resolved on follow-up examination. Campylobacter fetus spp. jejuni infection should be considered in the etiology of acute infectious colitis.