Sahar Rastyani
Mohammad Yousef Alikhani
Iraj Sedighi
Sima Kazemi
Hamed Farhadi Kohan
Mohammad Reza Arabestani

Background: Enteritis caused by Campylobacter is considered as the most common acute bacterial diarrhea around the world. In most cases, infection occurs as a result of consuming contaminated water or food, especially raw meat of fowls. Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to determine the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of campylobacter species among pediatrics of Hamadan city, Iran. Patients and Methods: A total of ۱۲۰ stool samples from children less than ۱۰ years old were examined from January ۲۰۱۳ to December ۲۰۱۴ in Hamadan, Iran. The samples were incubated in Campy-Thio enrichment medium for ۱ - ۲ hours and then cultured on a specific medium; after that, the suspected colonies were analyzed for Campylobacter spp. identification by conventional tests. The identified species by biochemical methods were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by disk agar diffusion (DAD) method. Results: Twelve (۱۰%) Campylobacter spp. from ۱۲۰ stool samples were isolated including C. coli and C. jejuni. In the antibiotic susceptibility test, the most frequent resistance was observed to ciprofloxacin ۸ (۸۸.۸%), followed by ۷ (۷۷.۷%) resistant strains to tetracycline, ۷ (۷۷.۷%) to erythromycin, ۶ (۶۶.۶%) to clindamycin, ۵ (۵۵.۵%) to meropenem, ۴ (۴۴.۴%) to gentamicin, ۳ (۳۳.۳%) to nalidixicacid and only ۱ (۱۱.۱%) to chloramphenicol. Conclusions: Campylobacter is responsible for some important clinical problems such as enteritis and is also associated with meningitis and hemolytic-uremic syndrome. It is imperative to monitor the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of Campylobacter spp. as well as other the zoonotic bacteria.