Recovery may be prolonged and relapses can occur, particularly in adults. Less common presentations include a typhoid-like symptom, reactive arthritis and meningitis. Some instances may mimic acute appendicitis. Death is very uncommon, being essentially restricted to persons with premorbid conditions - only 10 people in England and Wales have died from campylobacter infection since 1981. Around 30,000 isolations occur each year, compared with 20,000 or so of salmonellae.
Isolations are most commonly from the young and in males more than females.
The two peaks are in infants and in young adults though this may be a function of higher sampling-rates in these groups. The condition is, in general, not transmissible. Asymptomatic excretion is relatively uncommon though some persons may excrete for 2-7 weeks. Such excretors do not appear to transmit the disease. Foods most often implicated in transmission are milk and poultry, though unchlorinated water may be a vehicle.