Abstract

FAJO-PASCUAL, Marta; GODOY GARCIA, Pere; ARAMBURU ARNUELOS, Jesús  and  NOGUES BIAU, Antoni. Risk factors for sporadic cases of Campylobacter infection in children. Gac Sanit [online]. 2009, vol.23, n.4, pp.326-329. ISSN 0213-9111.

Objectives: To identify risk factors for sporadic cases of Campylobacter infection in children aged <14 years. Methods: We performed an age-matched, case-control study. Cases were residents of Lleida Health Region aged 6 months to 14 years old with diarrhea and positive stool isolation for Campylobacter. Information was gathered by telephone using a structured questionnaire on individual susceptibility and food and non-food exposures. A multivariate conditional logistic regression model was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORa) and their 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Results: Forty-five cases and 45 controls were included in the analysis. The median age of cases was 1.6 years. Factors independently associated with disease were consumption of cooked deli meat >2 times (ORa:4.2, 95%CI:1.2-14.7), chicken >3 times (ORa:3.6, 95%CI:1.1-11.1) in the week before symptom onset, and previous antibiotic intake (ORa:4.7, 95%CI:1.1-19.6). Conclusions: Chicken meat was a risk factor for sporadic cases of campylobacteriosis in children, whether through consumption or through cross-contamination with other «ready-to-eat» foods such as cooked deli meat.

Keywords : Campylobacter infections; Case-control study; Risk factors; Spain.

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