Berdal JE, et al. - Researchers conducted a retrospective case-case study to determine the clinical value of positive campylobacter and/or enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) test results in hospitalized patients with diarrhea. They assessed case groups with EPEC only, EPEC in combination with any other pathogen in the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) multiplex array, PCR positive/culture negative campylobacter, and PCR positive/culture positive campylobacter. Among 291 included patients, 169 were PCR positive for campylobacter and 122 for EPEC. A very high prevalence of features of acute infectious gastroenteritis were seen in patients who were positive for campylobacter; patients with PCR positive test results only frequently had another explanation for their diarrhea. In culture negatives, which made up a third of the total PCR positives, C. concisus was the most frequently seen species; culture positives were almost solely C. jejuni/coli. Most EPEC-only positives had documented non-infectious factors that could explain diarrhea, while the EPEC co-infected group mirrored the culture positive campylobacter group, with a majority of patients fulfilling the criteria for infectious gastroenteritis. These findings emphasize interpreting positive PCR results for campylobacter and EPEC in a clinical context after evaluation of non-infectious diarrhea associated conditions among hospitalized patients rather than using it as a stand-alone diagnostic tool.