Prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni in diarrheic children in Semnan (Iran)

Diarrhea is one of pediatric infectious diseases, which is the most frequent cases of child mortality. Diarrhea is a health problem in Iran; nearly 70 thousand children were died from diarrhea. Several bacterial agents can cause diarrhea, one of them is Campylobacter jejuni, which is less considered. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of Campylobacter jejuni in Semnan diarrheic children.

Stool samples were collected from diarrheic children who refer to Amiralmomenin hospital, Shafa hospital and hygiene centers of Semnan and these children did not receive any antibiotic treatment at the beginning of the study. A swab was inoculated in Stuart medium and transferred to clinical laboratory of Semnan hygiene center. The swab was inoculated on Preston blood free campylobacter agar and incubated at 42oC for 48 hours. In order to bacterial identification, gram stain, catalase, oxidase, lack of H2S production in TSI, susceptibility to Nalidixic acid, resistance to Cephalotin and Hyporate hydrolysis were used. Antibiotic susceptibility test was performed by Kirby-Bauer method.

From 276 stool specimens (38.5% females and 61.5% males), Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from 27 cases (9.8%; 44.4% females and 55.6% males). The most susceptibility was seen for Erytromycin (92.6%), and the most resistance was observed for Cotrimoxazole (44.4%).

In this study, the prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni was more than other studies. Therefore, notification to Campylobacter jejuni in patient treatment and bacterial transmission prevention is necessary in this area.