Serotypes of Campylobacter jejuni isolated from patients attending a diarrhoeal disease hospital in urban Bangladesh.

The serotypes of strains of Campylobacter jejuni isolated from patients attending the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B), Dhaka, and from animals were ascertained by Penner and Hennessy's (1980) serotyping scheme. Of 102 isolates from man, 74% were typable and serotypes 53, 15 and 22 predominated. Of 26 isolates from animals, 65% were typable and serotypes 15 and 53 occurred frequently. The diarrhoeal illnesses associated with different serotypes were similar. In one-third of cases other enteropathogens were present. C. jejuni was isolated from 7% of patients tested in a 4% sampling system during 1983, and the prevalent serotypes appeared in most months. It is concluded that C. jejuni is a common enteropathogen in Bangladesh, that a few serotypes predominate among isolates from both man and animals, and that serotype does not determine clinical symptoms.