[Campylobacter jejuni infection in children of a rural community].

Colonization of the intestine with Campylobacter jejuni was followed longitudinally from birth in a cohort of 75 rural children with fecal cultures taken every fortnight and every time they had diarrhea. Only 25% of children initially colonized with C. jejuni during the first year of life, and 12% of children initially colonized during the second had diarrhea. The age at which a child was initially infected with C. jejuni was not a risk factor in relation with presence of disease. A higher illness-to-infection ratio (P less than 0.05) was found during subsequent colonization with C. jejuni when initial infection was associated with diarrhea. Risk of diarrhea during initial or subsequent colonization with C. jejuni was not related with the production of cholera-like enterotoxin, a cytotoxic active on HeLa cells or with adhesive ability to HEp-2 cells by the infecting strains.