In September 2013 Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) learned of two laboratory confirmed cases of Campylobacter jejuni though routine surveillance. Both reported working or volunteering at a wildlife rehabilitation center (WRC) located in Roseville, Minnesota before illness onsets of July 27 and September 1, respectively. The two isolates were indistinguishable by PFGE (Minnesota subtype designation CMP236).

MDH sent an email to all WRC personnel who worked from July 1 to September 30. Two hundred and eleven of 710 personnel were interviewed. Eighteen met the case definition. Six were interns and 12 were volunteers. Onset dates ranged from June 13 to September 21. In univariate analyses, contact with multiple animal species was significantly associated with illness (7 of 18 cases vs. 9 of 166 controls). In a multivariate model, raccoons were the only species independently associated with illness (adjusted OR, 12.2; 95% CI, 2.19 to 239.9; p<0.001).

Pooled juvenile raccoon samples tested positive for Campylobacter jejuni. All other animal fecal samples were negative. The PFGE pattern of the raccoon isolates was indistinguishable from that of the two index case isolates.