Adherence, enterotoxigenicity, invasiveness and serogroups in Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli strains from adult humans with acute enterocolitis

Two hundred Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli strains from the same number of adult Swedish patients with acute enterocolitis were tested regarding adherence to and invasiveness in HEp-2 cells and for enterotoxigenicity by the CHO-cell assay. The serogroup characteristics, heat-stable and heat-labile, for each strain were also investigated. Eighty-four percent of the strains were classified as C. jejuni and 16 percent as C. coli. All of the strains were adherent to HEp-2 cells, 39% were invasive and 31.5% enterotoxigenic. We found significantly more invasive strains in the non-enterotoxigenic group than in the enterotoxigenic one. There would seem to be no correlation between enterotoxigenicity or invasiveness and serogroup. The results of this study suggest the existence of multiple mechanisms for C. jejuni- and C. coli-induced diarrhoea and that the mechanisms may differ from one strain to another.