RISK-FACTORS FOR CAMPYLOBACTER-ENTERITIS IN SWITZERLAND

From February to December 1998, 167 sporadic cases of Campylobacter en teritis in Switzerland and 282 controls were enrolled in a case-contro l study using self-administered questionnaires. In the multivariate ma tched analysis, travel abraod was identified as the most important ris k factor for an infection with Campylobacter (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 21.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] 7.6-56.2). Having foreign citize nship also increased the risk (OR = 6.7, 95% CI 1.3-34.5). Among food items consumed within five days before onset of illness, consumption o f poultry liver was shown to be a risk factor (OR = 5.7, 95% CI 1.4-22 .8), while the consumption of curd or cottage cheese lowered the risk (OR = 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.9). The unmatched analysis confirmed travel ab road and the consumption of poultry liver as risk factors and the cons umption of curd or cottage cheese as being protective, and, in additio n, identified the consumption of poultry as a risk factor (OR = 2.0, 9 5% CI 1.1-3.3). The study showed the feasibility of using self-adminis tered questionnaires for this type of analysis. The method is logistic ally simple and reduces the cost of case-control studies.