Campylobacter jejuni enterocolitis causing peritonitis, ileitis and intestinal obstruction.

Patients with Campylobacter enterocolitis may come to laparotomy due to the severity of abdominal symptoms and signs, although only two patients with intestinal inflammation have been described and in neither was the histopathology documented. A case of a 52-year-old male who had a typical diarrhoeal illness of Campylobacter enterocolitis diagnosed on stool culture is reported. Despite appropriate treatment he developed signs and symptoms consistent with small intestinal obstruction. Laparotomy revealed peritonitis and thickened distal ileum with transmural inflammatory changes on histopathology. These changes were shown to have completely resolved at a second laparotomy, required for persistent obstruction due to adhesions. Recurrent adhesions culminated in a third laparotomy. The clinical, operative and histopathological findings may be confused with Crohn's disease.