Isolation and drug-resistant patterns of Campylobacter strains cultured from diarrheic children in Tehran

To detect campylobacteriosis and determine the drug susceptibility of causative organisms, we acquired 500 diarrheic samples in Cary-Blair transfer medium from two pediatric hospitals in Tehran between October 2004 and October 2005. The samples were also enriched in Preston broth (with supplements) and defibrinated sheep blood (7%). They were plated from both media on Brucella agar containing antibiotics and blood. Isolates were identified through biochemical tests and by the polymerase chain reaction method. Drug susceptibility testing was performed using the disk diffusion method. In total, 40 Campylobacter strains were isolated (8%). C. jejuni was the dominant species (85.8%) followed by C. coli (14.2%). The rates of resistance to antimicrobial agents were as follows: ciprofloxacin (61.7%), ceftazidime (47%), carbenicillin (35%), tetracycline (20.5%), cefotaxime (14.7%), ampicillin (11.7%), neomycin erythromycin and chloramphenicol (2.9%), gentamicin, streptomycin, imipenem and colistin (0.0%). Campylobacter is an important cause of diarrhea among Iranian children. The detection of Campylobacter increases by 25% if samples are treated in enrichment broth prior to plating. The high rate of resistance to ciprofloxacin is alarming, and further investigation into the possible reasons for this is imperative.