Abstract:

Background: Campylobacter spp are recognized as a major causative agent of acute watery diarrhea in humans worldwide. The stool culture is the main diagnostic technique relied in many clinical laboratories setting as a gold standard, however this techniques is not easily affordable due to its expensiveness and time consuming compared to simple stain which is affordable, reliable and can give results within short period of time but most of laboratory do not perform this method due to limited information available. This study is going to determine the magnitude and determinants of Campylobacter enteritis using 1% carbol-fuchsin as direct stain amongst children clinically diagnosed with diarrhea admitted or visiting three healthcare facilities in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Methods: This was a cross sectional hospital based study conducted between April and July 2019 among diarrhea genic children at Magu, Misungwi and Sumve designated district hospitals in Mwanza-Tanzania. Fresh diarrheal stool specimens were collected; slides were prepared by making thin smears, and were stained by covering the smears with 1% carbol-fuchsin for 30 seconds. The smears examined under light microscope using x10 magnification and x100 oil immersion for white blood cells and visualization of morphological appearance of Campylobacter spp respectively. Data was entered in computer Excel sheet, coded, cleaned and analyzed using STATA version 13 software.

Results: Out of 200 stool specimens from children with watery diarrhea, 15(7.5%) were positive with typical comma, spiral, S-shape, or gull wing morphological appearance of Campylobacter spp, in 15 positive cases, 8(9.52%) were females and 7(6.03%) were females. A number of children with Campylobacter spp. infection found in Magu district hospital, Misungwi district hospital and Sumve designated district hospital, were 7(6.25%), 5(9.43%) and 3(8.57%) with chi-square=0.596 (p=0.742) respectively.

On Chi square analysis, only keeping of livestock (10.1% vs 1.6%, p=0.037) and presence of leucocytes in smear (21.1% vs 0%, p<0.001) were significantly associated with campylobacteriosis.

Discussion: In this study keeping of animal (p=0.037) and leukocytosis (p=<001) had association with campylobacter infection since the bacteria are normal flora of these animals (cows and chickens). When drop their feces contaminate the children easily as they crow and play with the feces and leucocytes indicates mucosal lining inflammation.

Conclusion and Recommendations: The prevalence obtained from this study (7.5%) is comparable to previous study done by the same method. We recommend the use of 1% carbol-fuchsine because it cost and time effective in low income countries/settings.