Prevalence of Campylobacter Species in Out-patients and Pregnant Women Attending Government Clinics in Sokoto State, Nigeria - Prevalence of Campylobacter Species in Out-patients and Pregnant Women Attending Government Clinics in Sokoto State, Nigeria - Open Access Pub

Campylobacter infection has been detected in poultry processors at live bird markets in Sokoto, however the prevalence of Campylobacter species in more diverse group of the population is uncertain. For this purpose, 292 human fecal swabs from patients in four Government Hospitals in Sokoto State were analyzed for Campylobacter species using culture and phenotypic typing method. The prevalence rate of 55% was revealed in the tested samples while 56% and 55% were for males and females respectively. Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli and C. lari had 20%, 40% and 40% in males and 38%, 35% and 27% in females respectively. The prevalence rates of 60%, 52%, 45%, 41% and 80%,were revealed in age range of (less than 1-6, 7-13, 14-20, 21-55 and 56-76) yrs respectively. Furthermore, 70% and 43% prevalence rates were recorded in pregnant and non-pregnant women of reproductive age respectively. There was no statistical significant association (P>0.05) between Campylobacter infection and age range and sex, but the statistical association between infection and pregnancy was significant (P<0.05). The prevalence of Campylobacter species in patients as found in the various hospitals has revealed the level of environmental contamination in different homes in the state and the need to include Campylobacter in screening routine laboratory diagnosis of gastroenteritis in humans for appropriate treatment and management especially in young children, old adult and pregnant women. DOI10.14302/issn.2474-3585.jpmc-16-1114 Campylobacter species have been known as causative agents of veterinary disease since 1913, when two veterinary surgeons, Mcfadyean and Stockman, reported an unknown bacterium that resembled a vibrio from aborted fetuses 1. The name Vibrio fetus was first described as a spirillum after investigation of infectious abortion of bovines in USA 2. Winter dysentery in calves and swine dysentery have been attributed to infection caused by Vibrio jejuni3 The breakthrough in recognizing the public health and clinical importance of these ‘vibrios’ as used for Campylobacter throughout the first half of 20th century was the isolation of Vibrio fetus from the blood of a pregnant woman with fever of unknown origin 4. It was later revealed that Campylobacter enteritis is an important human disease caused by genus Campylobacter which can be detected and isolated from both the blood and faeces of humans 5. They are microaerophilic, non-fermentative, non-spore forming, gram-negative and oxidase positive organism 6, 7. They are typically curved, comma or spiral shaped rods between