Isolation and identification of Campylobacter spp. and Campylobacter coli from poultry carcasses by conventionalculture method and multiplex PCR in Mashhad, Iran

The genus Campylobacter is of great importance to public health because it includes several species thatmay cause diarrhoea. Poultry and poultry products are known as important sources of humancampylobacteriosis. In this study, during the autumn months of 2005, a total of 100 samples from poultrycarcasses, representing 20 broiler flocks were obtained by rinse test, after the chilling stage of processing.The samples were enriched in Preston broth, followed by streaking on selective media. Then, the suspectedcolonies were isolated on sheep blood agar and tested for morphology, motility and Gram-staining.Biochemical tests and hippurate hydrolysis activity were also performed. Concurrently, a multiplex PCRassay (m-PCR) with two sets of primers was employed for identification of Campylobacter genus andCampylobacter coli. The m-PCR assay was applied on bacterial cultures harvested from selective mediaplates. By conventional culture method, including hippurate hydrolysis test from suspected colonies, 76% ofsamples were positive for Campylobacter spp. and 2% for C. coli. In m-PCR assay 28% of the harvestedcultures, were positive for Campylobacter genus but C. coli were not detected in any of the samples.According to this preliminary study, it seems that the contamination rate of poultry carcasses with otherspecies of Campylobacter genus is higher than contamination with C. coli.