Effect of iron-dextran on lethality of Nigerian isolates of Campylobacter jejuni in mice.

Mice were orally and intragastically challenged with standard suspensions containing 1 x 10(9-10) Colony Forming Units (C.F.Us) per ml of strains "2" and "5" of Campylobacter jejuni isolated in Lagos. Another group of mice received the same amount of C. jejuni and 1pc iron-dextran which was incorporated into the bacterial suspension ad Mueller-Hinton broth. Two sets of control mice were included in the study. One set received only 0.2 ml of phosphate buffered saline while the second set received a mixture of killed C. jejuni and 1pc iron-dextran. A standard control organism (C. jejuni) NCTC strain 11168 was included in the study. Results presented show that infection of mice with only C. jejuni did not result in clinical diarrhoea or death of the animals as was also observed in the two sets of control. However, when the mixture of 1pc iron-dextran and C. jejuni was given, 15 (75pc) and 13 (65pc) of twenty mice each given by infant mouse infection and intragastic challenge respectively died. All the surviving animals developed diarrhoea. The difference in this result when compared with controls and those that received only C. jejuni was statistically significant (P less than 0.05). Incorporation of iron-dextran into C. jejuni suspension in the Mueller-Hinton broth enhanced virulence of the organism.