The public health importance of the genus Campylobacter is attributed to several species causing diarrhea in
consumers. Poultry and their meat are considered the most important sources of human campylobacteriosis. In
this study, 287 samples from chicken (131 cloacal swabs, 39 chicken skin, 78 chicken meat, and 39 cecal parts)
obtained from retail outlets as well as 246 stool swabs from gastroenteritis patients were examined. A representative
number of the biochemically identified Campylobacter jejuni isolates were identified by real-time
PCR, confirming the identification of the isolates as C. jejuni. Genotyping of the examined isolates (n = 31) by
enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR (ERIC-PCR) revealed a high discriminatory index of ERICPCR
(D= 0.948), dividing C. jejuni isolates of chicken and human origins into 18 profiles and four clusters. The
18 profiles obtained indicated the heterogeneity of C. jejuni. Dendrogram analysis showed that four clusters
were generated; all human isolates fell into clusters I and III. These observations further support the existence of
a genetic relationship between human and poultry isolates examined in the present study. In conclusion, the
results obtained support the speculation that poultry and poultry meat have an important role as sources of
infection in the acquisition of Campylobacter infection in humans. |
