Increased severity of two concurrent Campylobacter jejuni clones causing large outbreaks, Denmark, July to October 2025.
Guido Benedetti, Gitte Sørensen, Ana Paula Finatto Canabarro, Emily Dibba White, Tine Graakjær Larsen, Susanne Schjørring +4 more
Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin
Abstract
In July-October 2025, two concurrent Campylobacter jejuni outbreaks (clones ST49#3 and ST52#4) with 112 notified cases were detected through Denmark's whole genome sequencing surveillance programme. The outbreaks were clinically severe: 45 (40%) infected individuals were hospitalised and 16 (14%) had bacteraemia. We estimated 900 laboratory-confirmed outbreak cases. Both outbreaks originated from Danish-produced chicken meat. These outbreaks reveal the vulnerabilities in the current prevention and control framework given by the regulatory tolerance for Campylobacter in fresh poultry meat.