Campylobacter infection and hepatocellular injury

First attempt to produce experimental Campylobacter concisus infection in mice

AIM: To infect mice with atypical Campylobacter concisus (C. concisus) for the first time.

METHODS: Three separate experiments were conducted in order to screen the ability of five clinical C. concisus isolates of intestinal origin and the ATCC 33237 type strain of oral origin to colonize and produce infection in immunocompetent BALB/cA mice. The majority of the BALB/cA mice were treated with cyclophosphamide prior to C. concisus inoculation to suppress immune functions. Inoculation of C. concisus was performed by the gastric route.

RESULTS: C. concisus was isolated from the liver, ileum and jejunum of cyclophosphamide-treated mice in the first experiment. No C. concisus strains were isolated in the two subsequent experiments. Mice infected with C. concisus showed a significant loss of body weight from day two through to day five of infection but this decreased at the end of the first week. Histopathological examination did not consistently find signs of inflammation in the gut, but occasionally microabscesses were found in the liver of infected animals.

CONCLUSION: Transient colonization with C. concisus was observed in mice with loss of body weight. Future studies should concentrate on the first few days after inoculation and in other strains of mice.

Acute hepatitis associated with Campylobacter jejuni bacteraemia

A case of acute hepatitis associated with Campylobacter jejuni bacteraemia is reported. Transaminase levels were increased over 50-fold in a patient with clinical features of enteritis and septicaemia. Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from blood and faecal cultures. Other infective and noninfective causes of acute hepatitis were excluded. The patient's symptoms and liver function values improved after antimicrobial therapy. Hepatitis should be considered as a complication of human Campylobacter jejuni infection.