Immune response to Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in a cohort of children from birth to 2 years of age.

A cohort of 111 children from Bangui, Central African Republic, was surveyed for enteric Campylobacter infections from birth to the age of 2 years; stools were examined biweekly in these children until 6 months of age and at least four times per year thereafter until 2 years of age and after each diarrheal episode. Blood samples were obtained at birth and at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months of age. Antibodies against glycine-extracted membrane antigens, purified flagella, and cholera toxin (CT) were assayed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results showed that titers of antibody against the three tested antigens increased in children between 6 and 12 months of age and that nearly all children were immunized by the age of 2 years. A significant fall in anti-flagellum (P less than 0.001) and anti-glycine extract antibodies (P less than 0.001) occurred between birth and age 3 months, and children who had Campylobacter infections during the first 6 months of life had significantly (P less than 0.02) less anti-flagellum antibodies at birth than did those who did not have Campylobacter infections during that time. Three-month-interval stratification showed that CT antibody titers at birth were significantly lower in children who developed Campylobacter infection than in controls (P = 0.05). Comparison of the immune response to a single Campylobacter episode showed that 46.6% of children with asymptomatic carriage did not respond to CT while only 5% of children with diarrhea-producing infection did not respond to CT (P less than 0.01), compared with 30% (P = 0.065) and 56% (P less than 0.01), respectively, of the age-matched controls. Antibodies to flagella seem to protect against enteric colonization by Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli.

Antibody response to Campylobacter coli in children during intestinal infection and carriage.

In the Central African Republic, etiological studies of diarrhea have shown that Campylobacter coli accounts for almost 40% of Campylobacter enteric isolations. This prompted us to investigate the antibody response to C. coli infection in children. As expected from the literature on Campylobacter jejuni infections, our results show that both infection and carriage elicited antibodies against glycine-extracted membrane antigens, flagella, and cholera toxin. The human antibody response to C. coli resembles the response to C. jejuni, and this similarity will allow comparative studies on larger numbers of infections, both symptomatic and asymptomatic. Anti-cholera toxin antibodies were directed against both the A and B subunits.