[Prevalence and antimicrobial behavior of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in children with diarrhea in Loja city, Ecuador]. / Prevalencia y caracterización del perfil de susceptibilidad antimicrobiana de Campylobacter jejuni y Campylobacter coli en niños con diarrea de la ciudad de Loja, Ecuador.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Campylobacter is an important agent of diarrhea in humans. In Ecuador, the information on Campylobacter is scarce and there are not antecedents about antimicrobial susceptibility. OBJECTIVE: To describe Campylobacter prevalence in children with diarrhea and their behavior against five antimicrobials in vitro. METHOD: We studied 253 children with diarrhea aging 7 months to 9 years who consulted for diarrhea in two hospitals in the city of Loja. Fecal samples were cultured and identification by tests by phenotypic tests and multiplex PCR. Susceptibility to 5 antibiotics was determined by the disc-diffusion method. RESULTS: Campylobacter was found in 16 (6.3%) children, being C. jejuni the most frequent one (5.1%), followed by C. coli (1.2%). All strains were susceptible to gentamicin and ampicillin/clavulanic acid, being found low resistance to ampicillin and erythromycin and high resistance to ciprofloxacin.