[Acute Campylobacter jejuni gastroenteritis in children. Study of 23 cases].

Twenty-three cases of acute Campylobacter jejuni (CJ) enteritis were studied over à 8 month-period in hospitalized children. 906 fecal cultures were collected during the same period from children aged 1 month to 14 years. CJ was isolated in 33 (3.6%). The authors analyse the epidemiologic, pathogenic, clinical and therapeutic aspects of the disease in the 23 hospitalized children. After Salmonella, CJ is one of the most frequent etiologic agents for bacterial acute enteritis; its pathogenic mechanism is that of an invasion, mainly enteric. The clinical picture consists of diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain, difficult to assess accurately in young children. The disease is usually limited to the digestive tract and recovery occurs without antibiotic therapy.