A community study on the aetiology of childhood diarrhoea with special reference to Campylobacter jejuni in a semiurban slum of Varanasi, India.
In a community study of 607 diarrhoeal and 529 non-diarrhoeal (control) patients less than 5 years old carried out between August 1988 and July 1989, the Campylobacter jejuni isolation rate was 4% in the diarrhoeal and 0.9% in the control group. It was the second most common bacterial enteropathogen isolated after Escherichia coli. Its incidence was more common among 1-2 year old children (4.8%) and during rainy season (July-October). Features of dysentery were absent in C. jejuni diarrhoea. Findings strongly suggest its aetiological role in childhood diarrhoea. Among other enteropathogens in diarrhoeal specimens, rotavirus was the commonest (16.4%) followed by enterotoxigenic E. coli (13.8%), G. lamblia (10.3%), enteropathogenic E. coli (7.0%), E. histolytica (5.0%), Cryptosporidium (3.8%), H. nana spp. (1.5%), NAG vibrios (0.5%), P. shigelloides (0.5%), V. mimicus and Salmonella spp. (0.3%). Approximately one quarter of the stool specimens (22.6%, 256/1136) tested were positive for the ova of A. lumbricoides.
Nath
G
G
Department of Microbiology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
Shukla
B N
BN
Reddy
D C
DC
Sanyal
S C
SC
D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012621:Seasons