A Study on 203 Cases of Campylobacter Jejuni Enteritis

Out of 1, 219 pediatric patients who were brought to our hospital with chief complaint of diarrhea and abdominal pain and in whom stool cultures were obtained for bacteriological studies in the 17 month period from May 1 in 1981 to September 30 in 1982, strains of Campylobacter jejuni were isolated from 203 patients (16.7%). In these patients clinical studies and statistical analysis were made. It was found that clinical symptoms of Campylobacter jejuni enteritis did not give any important clue for its differentiation from bacterial diarrhea. Antibiotic susceptibility tests revealed extremely high susceptibility of Campylobacter jejuni to fosfomycin (FOM) as well as erythromycin. Moreover, the effect of FOM on improvement of diarrheal symptoms and the period required for erradication of organisms were assessed with favourable results. However, since among strains of Campylobacter jejuni there were those resistant even to these drugs, although their incidence was very low, it was considered that isolation and susceptibility testing of Campylobacter jejuni were essential for treating enteritis caused by this species of organism.