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. 2024 May;43(5):895-904.
doi: 10.1007/s10096-024-04803-0. Epub 2024 Mar 12.

Human Campylobacter spp. infections in Italy

Verena Zerbato  1 , Stefano Di Bella  2 , Riccardo Pol  3 , Roberto Luzzati  2 , Gianfranco Sanson  2 , Simone Ambretti  4   5 , Stefano Andreoni  6 , Richard Aschbacher  7 , Mariano Bernardo  8 , Alessandra Bielli  9 , Gioconda Brigante  10 , Marina Busetti  11 , Giulio Camarlinghi  12 , Davide Carcione  10 , Antonella Carducci  10 , Nicola Clementi  13   14 , Edoardo Carretto  15 , Chiara Chilleri  16   17 , Giulia Codda  18 , Alessandra Consonni  19 , Venera Costantino  11 , Venere Cortazzo  20   21 , Manuela Di Santolo  11 , Saveria Dodaro  22 , Barbara Fiori  23 , Aurora García-Fernández  24 , Claudio Foschi  4   5 , Elisa Gobbato  6 , Francesca Greco  22 , Roberto Marcello La Ragione  25   26 , Nicasio Mancini  27   28 , Alberto Enrico Maraolo  29 , Anna Marchese  18   30 , Daniela Marcuccio  31 , Roberta Marrollo  15 , Carola Mauri  19 , Annarita Mazzariol  32 , Gianluca Morroni  33 , Adriana Mosca  34 , Giacomo Nigrisoli  4 , Elisabetta Pagani  7 , Eva Maria Parisio  12 , Simona Pollini  16   17 , Mario Sarti  35 , Annarita Sorrentino  32 , Domenico Trotta  33 , Laura Villa  24 , Chiara Vismara  9 , Luigi Principe  31
Affiliations
Free article

Human Campylobacter spp. infections in Italy

Verena Zerbato et al. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2024 May.
Free article

Abstract

Purpose: Campylobacter is a frequent cause of enteric infections with common antimicrobial resistance issues. The most recent reports of campylobacteriosis in Italy include data from 2013 to 2016. We aimed to provide national epidemiological and microbiological data on human Campylobacter infections in Italy during the period 2017-2021.

Methods: Data was collected from 19 Hospitals in 13 Italian Regions. Bacterial identification was performed by mass spectrometry. Antibiograms were determined with Etest or Kirby-Bauer (EUCAST criteria).

Results: In total, 5419 isolations of Campylobacter spp. were performed. The most common species were C. jejuni (n = 4535, 83.7%), followed by C. coli (n = 732, 13.5%) and C. fetus (n = 34, 0.6%). The mean age of patients was 34.61 years and 57.1% were males. Outpatients accounted for 54% of the cases detected. Campylobacter were isolated from faeces in 97.3% of cases and in 2.7% from blood. C. fetus was mostly isolated from blood (88.2% of cases). We tested for antimicrobial susceptibility 4627 isolates (85.4%). Resistance to ciprofloxacin and tetracyclines was 75.5% and 54.8%, respectively; resistance to erythromycin was 4.8%; clarithromycin 2% and azithromycin 2%. 50% of C. jejuni and C. coli were resistant to ≥ 2 antibiotics. Over the study period, resistance to ciprofloxacin and tetracyclines significantly decreased (p < 0.005), while resistance to macrolides remained stable.

Conclusion: Campylobacter resistance to fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines in Italy is decreasing but is still high, while macrolides retain good activity.

Keywords: Campylobacter jejuni; (6): Campylobacter spp; Antimicrobial resistance; Italy; Multidrug-resistant; Surveillance.

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