Background: Campylobacter upsaliensis can cause gastroenteritis and bacteremia. Data on its epidemiology and role in pediatric gastroenteritis are limited.
Objective: To describe the incidence and clinical features of enteric C. upsaliensis infection in children and to compare these with similar data for Campylobacter jejuni.
Design and methods: Medical records of all patients with enteric C. upsaliensis infection between 1992 and 1999 at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, were reviewed. A case-control study (age-matched 1:2) was performed to compare the severity of clinical disease and associated risk factors for infection with C. upsaliensis and C. jejuni.
Results: Of 18,516 specimens 666 (3.6%) were positive for C. jejuni and 19 (0.1%) were positive for C. upsaliensis. Records were available for 18 patients with C. upsaliensis gastroenteritis (mean age, 1.6 years; median age, 1.3 years; range, 3 months to 7 years; 14 male). Eleven patients (61%) presented with acute and 7 (39%) with chronic or intermittent diarrhea. The case-control study showed that fever (P = 0.03), acute diarrhea (P = 0.05) and rectal bleeding (P = 0.0006) were significantly less common in C. upsaliensis than in C. jejuni infection.
Conclusion: C. upsaliensis is a rare cause of gastroenteritis in young children and, compared with C. jejuni infection, is associated with significantly lower rates of fever, acute diarrhea and rectal bleeding.