Epidemiology and Detection of Bacterial Diarrhea Using Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction, Focusing on Campylobacter spp.

Abstract

This study assessed the clinical characteristics, epidemiological trends, and changes associated with major pathogens causing gastrointestinal inflammation. We retrospectively analyzed the test results of hospitalized patients who were administered a mPCR test for diarrhea causing bacteria between June 2010 and December 2019 at the Cheonan Dankook University hospital in the Republic of Korea and identified clinical characteristics and epidemiological trends related to major pathogens causing gastrointestinal inflammation. Our results showed that infections due to Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli H₇, Campylobacter species (spp.), and Clostridioides difficile toxin B varied seasonally (March to October). When examining annual trends, we found that Escherichia coli H₇ incidence decreased significantly throughout the time frame examined, from 27.27% of total infections in 2010 to 8.93% in 2019. In contrast, the incidence of both Clostridium spp., and Campylobacter spp. gradually increased throughout this time frame. Our study was able to demonstrate that improvements in environmental hygiene have aided in reducing the occurrence of water borne diarrhea, while infections due to food borne, anaerobic and diarrhea causing bacteria, such as those present in non-sterile milk and poultry, are increasing. We believe that this study will serve as a useful resource for better understanding the dynamics and risks associated with bacterial diarrhea, including infections caused by Campylobacter spp.