Prevalence, Laboratory Findings and Clinical Characteristics of Campylobacteriosis Agents among Hospitalized Children with Acute Gastroenteritis in Lebanon.

Purpose: species are currently the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis. In Lebanon, infection occurrence is underdiagnosed owing to the lack of specific culture and rapid test kits, particularly among children. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, laboratory findings, and clinical characteristics of infection in hospitalized children with acute gastroenteritis in South Lebanon.

Methods: We conducted a 6-month retrospective cohort study between January and June 2018, including 291 children aged between 1 month and 12 years, who were admitted to a tertiary healthcare center in South Lebanon. The medical files of the patients were reviewed to retrieve the required clinical information, including clinical and laboratory data.

Results: The prevalence of campylobacteriosis agents in pediatric patients with acute gastroenteritis is 12.02%. Patients infected with had more severe acute gastroenteritis than -negative patients and often presented with high-grade fever, diarrhea episodes more than six times per day, diarrhea lasting for more than five days, and dehydration. Indeed, children with high-grade fever (≥38.5°C) were five times more likely to test positive for than those with low-grade fever. In addition, the results showed a higher Vesikari score for the majority of -positive patients with severe acute gastroenteritis compared to a moderate profile for -negative patients.

Conclusion: The present study findings highlight that infection is frequent among children with acute gastroenteritis. Therefore, the detection of should be carried out for the diagnosis of human gastroenteritis in Lebanon, along with the detection of routine enteropathogens.