Campylobacter diarrhoea and an association of recent disease with asymptomatic shedding in Egyptian children

Abstract

SUMMARYA hospital-based case-control diarrhoea survey was conducted in Cairo. Egypt to determine the age-specific frequency of campylobacter infection among diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic children aged new born to 5 years. Campylobacter was the most common bacterial enteropathogen isolated from diarrhoeic stools. The overall prevalence of campylobacter isolations was 25·9% from stools of 143 diarrhoeic children compared to 15·2% of 132 non-diarrhoeic control children (P= 0·028) during the 4-month period of study. Children less than 1 year of age were at greatest risk of campylobacter infection with 32·6% of diarrhoeic patients culture positive, compared to 14·3% of controls. Asymptomatic shedding in controls was positively associated with a recent diarrhoeal episode (P= 0·019) and may be an important source of new infections.