A one-year survey of campylobacter enteritis and other forms of bacterial diarrhoea in Hong Kong.

The following enteropathogens were isolated from the faeces of 769 (10.2%) of 7,545 patients of whom 5,704 had diarrhoea or abdominal pain, attending a teaching hospital in Hong Kong during one year: salmonellae 458 (6.1%); Vibrio parahaemolyticus 125 (1.7%); campylobacters 108 (1.4%); shigellae 83 (1.1%); others 19 (0.3%). Further identification of the campylobacter isolates showed that 63 (58%) were Campylobacter jejuni biotype 1, 44 (41%) were C. coli and only one was C. jejuni biotype 2. Seventy-five (69%) of the 108 campylobacters were isolated from children under two years of age, mostly during the second year of life. Faecal specimens from 1,841 children under the age of two years without gastrointestinal symptoms yielded almost the same percentages of salmonellae, campylobacters and shigellae as children with diarrhoea. Salmonellae, shigellae and vibrios were isolated most often in the hot late summer months (August to October), but, contrary to the pattern in Europe and North America, both C. jejuni and C. coli were most prevalent in the coolest months of the year (January to March). The reasons for this "reversed' trend are unknown.