Abstract:
The main importance of Campylobacter lies in their role as an enteropathogen of man.
Incidence of Campylobacter enteritis is increasing worldwide. In developed countries
Campylobacter is the commonest bacterial pathogen causing gastroenteritis. As laboratory
diagnosis needs special requirements available data regarding Campylobacter studies are
available to assess the extent of the disease burden in developing countries. Situation in Sri
Lanka is no exception to the other developing world in this respect. This study was carried
out at Lady Ridgeway Children Hospital , Colombo and 438 children less than 10 years who
had acute diarrhea were included in this study. Stools were examined macroscopically,
microscopically and cultured on Campylobacter selective medium ( Butzler) ansd on routine
enteric media. Suspected colonies were presumptively identified by using Gram stain,
Catalase, Oxidase and typical motility biochemical test used for further identification were
Hippurate hydrolysis, Indoxyl hydrolysis, Cephalothin sensitivity , Nalidixic acid
sensitivity, H2S production and urease production. ABST was done on Muller Hinton Agar
with 5 percent sheep blood using disk diffusion method (NCCLS)
