RESUMO
The role of Campylobacter as a cause of bacterial diarrhea in young children in Alexandria, Egypt was investigated. Stools or rectal swabs were collected from 880 children (mean age 9.8 months) presenting to a hospital with the primary complaint of diarrhea and from 1,079 well children (mean age 8.8 months) attending a vaccination clinic. Isolation of Campylobacter was significantly (p<0.0002) more frequent from cases (17.2%) than from controls (6.4%). Campylobacter was isolated from children presenting with diarrhea more frequently than Salmonella (3% isolation rate), Shigella (2% isolation rate), or other bacterial pathogens (1% isolatoin rate). Isolation of Campylobacter was significantly more frequent during the rainy season (p<0.0012). These results implicate Campylobacter as a major bacterial cause of diarrhea for which young children are brought for medical attention in Alexandria, Egypt.
Assuntos
Infecções por Campylobacter , Diarreia , Saúde da População Urbana/estatística & dados numéricos , Instituições de Assistência Ambulatorial , Animais , Infecções por Campylobacter/epidemiologia , Infecções por Campylobacter/microbiologia , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Causalidade , Criança , Proteção da Criança/estatística & dados numéricos , Pré-Escolar , Diarreia/epidemiologia , Diarreia/microbiologia , Disenteria Bacilar/epidemiologia , Egito/epidemiologia , Fezes/microbiologia , Humanos , Lactente , Recém-Nascido , Vigilância da População , Aves Domésticas/microbiologia , Infecções por Salmonella/epidemiologia , Estações do Ano , VacinaçãoRESUMO
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunoblot analysis showed that up to 50% of the anti-typhoid antibody in sera from blood culture positive paediatric typhoid fever patients is directed against lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigen. Anti-Salmonella typhi LPS ELISA was therefore compared to Widal agglutination for serodiagnosis of typhoid fever in paediatric patients. Sera from 38 paediatric control individuals were ELISA negative for anti-S. typhi LPS IgG; all but 2 of these specimens were negative for anti-S. typhi LPS IgM. Paediatric patients hospitalized with signs and symptoms of typhoid fever were separated into 4 groups and tested by ELISA with the following results: 46 patients negative by both culture and Widal agglutination tests, 48% positive for anti-S. typhi LPS IgG and 35% for anti-S. typhi LPS IgM; 22 negative by culture but with positive Widal titres, 82% and 68% positive respectively; 28 culture positive for S. typhi, 93% and 82% respectively; and 12 culture positive for Salmonella other than S. typhi, 92% and 92% respectively. These data suggest that anti-S. typhi LPS ELISA is a suitable assay for diagnosis of typhoid fever in children.
