Campylobacter enteritis in Johannesburg.

In order to establish a reasonable protocol for a diagnostic laboratory we conducted a survey during which we confined the routine culture of stool samples for Campylobacter fetus to two groups--all infants under 2 years of age, and older children and adults with obviously diarrhoeic stools. Camp. fetus was isolated from 100 of 2323 stool specimens (4,3%). This is within the 3 - 8% isolation rates previously reported from surveys in which all specimens were cultured. Camp. fetus isolates represented 16,9% of all bacterial pathogens isolated, and Black infants showed a significantly greater isolation rate than White infants. We feel that culture for Camp. fetus is an essential part of any routine bacteriological investigation of diarrhoea. A partially selective culture policy for Camp. fetus will result in a recovery rate at least equal to that of Salmonella and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli.