Short‐term and medium‐term clinical outcomes of Campylobacter concisus infection

Abstract

There is only sparse data on the short‐ and medium‐term clinical impact of Campylobacter concisus infection. A clinical study was performed during a two‐year period to reveal the clinical manifestations in C. concisus positive adult patients. A case patient was defined as an adult patient (≥18 years) with a C. concisus positive stool sample during the study period. Clinical data were obtained with use of a questionnaire study supplemented with the patients’ medical records if any. The short‐ and medium‐term clinical manifestations in these patients were compared with that of patients with Campylobacter jejuni/coli infection. One‐hundred and seventy‐four C. concisus patients and 196 C. jejuni/coli patients participated in the study. Patients with pre‐existing inflammatory bowel disease or microscopic colitis or enteric co‐infection were excluded from review of the clinical manifestations. Comparison of the short‐term clinical manifestations in 139 C. concisus with that in 187 C. jejuni/coli patients showed a significantly lower prevalence of fever, chills, mucus and blood in stools, and weight loss. However, 80% of C. concisus patients compared to 32% of C. jejuni/coli patients had diarrhoea more than two weeks. After six‐month follow‐up period twelve percent of C. concisus patients were diagnosed with microscopic colitis, whereas no C. jejuni/coli patients were diagnosed with non‐infective colitis. Irritable bowel symptoms were common in both groups at follow‐up. Campylobacter concisus infection seems to give a milder course of acute gastroenteritis compared to C. jejuni/coli but is associated with more prolonged diarrhoea.

© 2012 The Authors Clinical Microbiology and Infection © 2012 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases