The gastrointestinal infection campylobacteriosis can be acquired through sexual contact, with gay and bisexual men at particular risk, research suggests.

Contact with faecal matter — primarily through anal-oral sex, or “rimming” — appears to be a significant driver for acquiring the notifiable infection in this cohort, Danish researchers report.

Although this is a widely accepted transmission route for the gut pathogen Shigella, they say sexual contact was not considered to be a traditional risk factor for Campylobacter, which is often acquired from eating under-cooked chicken or other meat, raw milk, or contact with animals.

But public health physician and director of the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre Professor Christopher Fairley said it was “not at all surprising” given how common it was for men who have sex with men (MSM) to report oral-anal sex.