Epidemiology of Campylobacter jejuni infections in Sweden, November 2011–October 2012: is the severity of infection associated with C. jejuni sequence type?

Abstract

BackgroundCampylobacter jejuni is among the most frequent causes of bacterial gastroenteritis in Europe. Over 8,000 C. jejuni multilocus sequence typing sequence types (STs) have been described; ST-21 and ST-45 have been identified as the most frequent types in all human studies so far. In contrast to other STs, ST-22 has been associated with the Guillain–Barré syndrome and ST-677 was recently linked to severe systemic infections in Finland. We investigated risk factors associated with hospitalisation in individuals with C. jejuni infections acquired in Sweden.MethodsA total of 1,075 individuals with domestically acquired C. jejuni infection diagnosed between November 2011 and October 2012 in Sweden were included in this retrospective cohort study. Typing data for the isolates as well as clinical data including hospitalisation dates and diagnosis codes for individuals with C. jejuni infection were obtained. Factors associated with hospitalisation and length of hospitalisation were investigated by multivariable analysis.ResultsA total of 289 individuals were hospitalised due to C. jejuni infection (26.8%); those with co-morbidities were over 14 times more likely to become hospitalised than those without (odds ratio [OR]: 14.39, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.84–30.26). Those with underlying co-morbidities were also hospitalised longer than those without (4.22 days vs. 2.86 days), although this was not statistically significant. C. jejuni ST-257 (OR: 2.38; CI: 1.08–5.23), but not ST-22 or ST-677, was significantly associated with hospitalisation.ConclusionST-677 was not associated with increased hospitalisation or a longer hospital stay in our study whilst ST-257 was. However, individuals with C. jejuni infections were generally more frequently hospitalised than previously demonstrated; this requires further consideration including possible targeted interventions.

Campylobacter-associated hospitalisations in an Australian provincial setting

“…By identifying all hospital-derived Campylobacter isolates and linking these to inpatient admissions and surveillance data we calculated the sensitivity of morbidity coding associated with Campylobacter infection to be 52%, indicating substantial measurement error. This has been demonstrated in similar settings with US [ 15 ] and Swedish [ 16 ] studies reporting appropriate use of ICD coding among hospitalised campylobacteriosis cases to be 43 and 51% respectively.…”

Whole-genome comparative analysis of Campylobacter jejuni strains isolated from patients with diarrhea in northeastern Poland

“…However, we noted that ST50 genomes, followed by ST257, possessed overall the highest number of virulence genes, including those ones considered as typical for human pathogenic C. jejuni isolates [17]. Interestingly, Harvala et al [25] showed that patients infected with C. jejuni ST-50 or ST-257 strains were slightly more likely to be hospitalized than those infected with other STs.…”

Campylobacteriosis Agents in Meat Carcasses Collected from Two District Municipalities in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

“…In the last decade, there has been a global upsurge in the rate of Campylobacter infections [1,2], and Campylobacter has emerged as one of the most significant bacteria of public health importance [3]. Globally, Campylobacter infection is a significant zoonosis, considered to be the leading cause of bacterial foodborne infection [4].…”