Evaluation of the incidence of Campylobacter species in stool samples of diarrhoeal Patients attending selected hospitals in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Infectious diarrhea caused by Campylobacter spp. has been described globally as an important gas-trointestinal tract disease. This study was aimed at determining the prevalence and antibiotics susceptibility profile of Campylobacter spp. isolated from diarrhoeal stool samples collected from diarrhea patients. A total of 80 fecal samples collected from patients of different age groups and sex with diarrhea were screened for Campylobacter spp. using an appropriate selective agar medium. Presumptive isolates were confirmed by molecular methods using species-specific primers targeting C. jejuni, C. coli as well as the presence of some virulence genes. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were conducted using the standard disk diffusion method and molecular determination of the chloramphenicol resistance gene (catA1) was also carried out. Out of 80 stool samples screened, only 42 (52.5%) were positive for presumptive Campylobacter spp. Eighty-eight percent (37/42) of the presumptive isolates were confirmed C. jejuni while the remainder could not be delin-eated. A total of 12 isolates out of 37 confirmed C. jejuni (32.4%), were found to possess the fliM gene, while 24.3% (9/37) and only 16.2% (6/37) of the isolates were positive for flhA and flgE2 virulence genes respec-tively. Other virulence genes including flaA, flaB, and flhBq genes were absent in the confirmed isolates. The isolates were variously resistant to tested antibiotics. The findings indicate that C. jejuni is prevalent among the diarrhea patients in the study community. A significantly high antimicrobial resistance to commonly used antibiotics for the treatment of diarrhoea was observed and this is of significant public health concern.