Clinical significance of erythromycin-resistant Campylobacter jejuni in children

Campylobacter has been recognized as the common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in many countries. Increasing erythromycin resistance in Campylobacter jejuni infection is noted recently, but severe case was rarely reported. In this study, we aimed to clarify the clinical significance of the resistant strain of C jejuni in children. We reviewed the charts of children who were diagnosed with C jejuni enteritis in our hospital from January 2000 to December 2005, including 326 patients (117 males and 209 females). All the cases had positive stool culture. We divided them into two groups, the sensitive group (a total of 306 cases) and resistant group (a total of 20 cases), according to the drug sensitivity. We analyzed the clinical manifestations and laboratory data between the two groups. The mean age was 3.79 ± 3.24 years in the sensitive group and 3.03 ± 2.84 years in the resistant group. There was no significant difference between the two groups in clinical presentations and laboratory examinations. No mortality was found, and one case was initially presented with colonic perforation. This report demonstrates that infection by erythromycin-resistant strains of C jejuni has no clinical significance in children, despite the probably increased emergence of erythromycin resistance.