Pediatric campylobacteriosis in northern Taiwan from 2003 to 2005.
BACKGROUND
There has been a marked increase in the incidence of, and concern regarding, human Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli infections worldwide during the last decade. As the highest infectious disease control apparatus in Taiwan, we aimed to describe the character of Campylobacter isolates from infected children, as well as basic information about the patients, from December 2003 to February 2005.


METHODS
A total of 894 fecal specimens were collected by several clinics and hospitals from children who had diarrhea, followed by plating onto selective media. Drug susceptibility test of the isolates from these specimens were conducted by disc diffusion method and their serotypes were also studied using commercial antisera made in Japan.


RESULTS
The isolation rate of Campylobacter during these 15 months was 6.8% and was higher in winter (11.1%) than in other seasons. C. jejuni was the most prevalent (95.1%) species in northern Taiwan, comparable to other developed countries. Among the 61 Campylobacter isolates, most were resistant to tetracycline (93.4%), nalidixic acid (91.8%), ciprofloxacin (90.2%), and ampicillin (85.5%). Erythromycin-resistant isolates represented 3.3% of all isolates, suggesting that this drug may be the first choice for treatment. The serotypes of the 61 isolates were demonstrated and only 41.4% were typable.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the Taiwan CDC provided an epidemiological analysis of Campylobacter infection, including the isolation rate, age, seasonal distribution, antimicrobial drug susceptibility patterns, and serotypes of the isolates from pediatric patients in northern Taiwan from 2003 to 2005.
Yang
Ji-Rong
JR
Research and Diagnostic Center, Centers for Disease Control, Department of Health, Taipei, Taiwan. ggyang@cdc.gov.tw
Wu
Ho-Sheng
HS
Chiang
Chuen-Sheue
CS
Mu
Jung-Jung
JJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002167:Campylobacter / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D012621:Seasons; D012703:Serotyping; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents