title: Campylobacter enteritis.
abstract: Campylobacter jejuni/coli has recently become recognized as a common bacterial cause of diarrhea. Infection can occur at any age. The usual incubation period of campylobacter enteritis is 2 to 5 days. Fever, diarrhea and abdominal pain are the most common clinical features. The stools frequently contain mucus and, a few days after the onset of symptoms, frank blood. Significant vomiting and dehydration are uncommon. A rapid presumptive laboratory diagnosis may be made during the acute phase of the illness by direct phase-contrast microscopy of stools. Isolation of the organism from stools requires culture in a selective medium containing antibiotics and incubation under reduced oxygen tension at 42 degrees C. The organism persists in the stools of untreated patients for up to 7 weeks following the onset of symptoms. Erythromycin may produce a rapid clinical and bacteriologic cure, and should be used to treat moderately to severely ill patients as well as patients with compromised host defences. The emergence of erythromycin-resistant strains requires close monitoring. The epidemiologic aspects of campylobacter enteritis will be fully understood only when methods become available for differentiating strains of C. jejuni/coli. The historical background and current knowledge of campylobacter enteritis are reviewed in this paper.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D004285:Dogs; D004751:Enteritis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D004917:Erythromycin