Early treatment with erythromycin of Campylobacter jejuni-associated dysentery in children

Abstract

Abstract: This study evaluated the effectiveness of early erythromycin treatment in reducing the duration of diarrhea and fecal excretion in infants and children with acute dysentery associated with Campylobacter jejuni. In a randomized double-blind clinical trial conducted at Cayetano Heredia Hospital in Peru, 170 children aged 3 to 60 months with acute dysentery received either erythromycin ethyl succinate or placebo immediately after clinical presentation, before bacteriological confirmation. Among the patients with confirmed C. jejuni infection, those treated with erythromycin showed significantly faster clinical recovery and shorter bacterial shedding compared with the placebo group. By the fifth day of treatment, 93% of children receiving erythromycin had normal stools versus 50% in the placebo group, and no treatment failures occurred in the erythromycin group. The findings demonstrate that early administration of erythromycin is effective in shortening both diarrheal symptoms and fecal excretion of C. jejuni in pediatric patients with acute dysentery, highlighting the importance of prompt antimicrobial therapy before laboratory confirmation.