Campylobacter jejuni Bacteremia in a Healthy Child

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the important bacterial pathogens causing entero-invasive diarrhea; however, C. jejuni infection is rarely complicated by bacteremia or extra-intestinal localization. In the domestic literature, the majority of the relevant reports have focused on Campylobacter fetus, which causes bacteremia more frequently than enteritis, but there are no reports of C. jejuni bacteremia in Korea. We present the case of a 13-year-old girl who presented with abdominal pain. Blood cultures revealed curved Gram-negative bacilli and small, mucoid, gray colonies on blood agar plates at 37C. Biochemical tests showed oxidase-positive colonies. To confirm the species, 16S rRNA sequence analysis was performed. The isolate exhibited 99.7% homology to C. jejuni subsp. jejuni. The patient was treated with third-generation cephalosporin and aminoglycoside and had negative blood cultures after three days of treatment. She fully recovered within four days with no complications. (Korean J Clin Microbiol 2011;14:110-114)