Campylobacters are spiral or comma-shaped gram-negative bacteria that usually produce an acute gastrointestinal illness. They were initially thought to be members of the Vibrio genus, but in 1963 were assigned to the new genus, Campylobacter (113).Campylobacter jejuni, which accounts for most human Campylobacter isolates in the U.S., is thermophilic in that it grows at high temperatures -- 42 or 43 degrees C. Recently, the complete genome sequence of Campylobacter was characterized. Of note was the finding of hypervariable regions that might be important in the survival of the organism (90).