الفهرس 
Historical noteOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Campylobacteria has long been known to cause diarrheal disease in animals,
but are also one of the most common causes of diarrhea in humans. The delay
in recognizing the importance of these organisms was due to their cultural
requirements which differ from those of Enterobacteria. The interest with these
organisms has continued to the present and will doubtless continue into the
foreseeable future. Today with improved media and isolation procedures the
clinical laboratories isolate thermophilic Campylobacteria routinely in every
investigation of a diarrheal illness.
This work aimed for the isolation of Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli among
cases of diarrhea, the percentage of these organisms in relation to Salmonella and
Shigella species and the age group with the highest infection with
Campylobacteria. The material of our study included 90 infants, children and
adults up to the age 18 years. They were randomly chosen from the out-patient
clinics of Pediatric and Internal Medicine Department El-Sahel Teaching Hospital
and Abbasia Fever Hospital from both sexes and various age groups. Sixty were
suffering from diarrhea and the remaining thirty were not suffering from diarrhea
and were acting as a control group.
Stool specimens were collected and were immediately cultured both
microaerophilic for the isolation of Campylobacter organisms and aerobically for
the isolation of Salmonella and Shigella species on a variety of enrichment,
differential and selective media.
Campylobacter jejuni I coli were isolated from stools of 15% of cases and
3.3% of healthy controls with no significant statistically (p > 0.05). Salmonella
were isolated from stools of 6.7% of cases and no organisms could be isolated
from healthy controls, no Shigella cases were detected in our study. This indicate
that Campylobacteria were the most common bacterial enteric pathogen isolated
from diarrheal cases.
In this study, the age group < 2 years had the highest incidence of infection
with Campylobacteria, then the age group 2 - < 12, 12-18 respectively.
Our study, in addition to other studies reported from different parts of the
world on the isolation of Campylobacter, suggests that Campylobacters (C. jejuni
and C. coli) are an important addition to the growing list of known enteric
pathogens as causative agents of infective diarrhea.
The development of a selective culture medium has now made the isolation of
Campylobacters from faeces a simple matter requiring only a gas pak jar, gas
generating envelope and an incubator set about 42°C. Animal contact and the
source of water supply were implicated as possible causes of Campylobacter
infection.
We recommend that the importance of Campylobacter infection in cases of
diarrhea be realized and that the appropriate media for detection of
Campylobacter should be used especially in cases were diarrhea is prolonged and
does not respond to conventional therapy.
Clinical laboratories, particularly in pediatric hospitals, should be aware of this
important enteric pathogen and should include special isolation techniques for
Campylobacter in their routine diagnostic procedures.
Because of the high incidence of Campylobacter disease worldwide,
contributing to morbidity and high mortality specially in developing countries,
there is a need for an effective vaccine to protect against infection by this group
of organisms.