Campylobacter jejuni infections in Haifa subdistrict, Israel, summer 1981

A study investigating the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of Campylobacter jejuni infections in an urban community in Israel is presented. Most of the information was obtained by interviewing 76 patients who constituted a systematic sample out of a total of 215 patients suffering from acute Campylobacter jejuni diarrhoea during the summer of 1981. The crude annual incidence rate was 17 per 10 000. Age-specific incidence rate in infants up to one year of age was eight times higher than that in children 1-14 years of age. The median duration of infection until a negative culture was obtained in convalescent patients, was 10 days. No evidence of resistance to erythromycin was found. No statistically significant difference in keeping animals at home was found between the patients and a neighbourhood control group. The frequencies of the various complaints and clinical findings are described.