Survey of Phenotypic and Genetic Methods Used to Identify and Differentiate Thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. strains

A Survey of Phenotypic and Genetic Methods Used to Identify and Differentiate Thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. strains
A Report to the Ministry of Health by John Klena, Department of Plant and Microbial Sciences, University of Canterbury

Date of publication: June 2001

In 1980, campylobacteriosis became a notifiable disease in New Zealand. Since then, reported cases of gastroenteritis, due primarily to the bacterial species Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, have been on a rapid increase. Available statistics for the year ending 2000 support evidence that New Zealand has the highest reported incidence of campylobacteriosis in the developed world.

The costs associated with infection and disease associated with Campylobacter spp. are also considerable. One recent study places the total cost of foodborne infectious disease in New Zealand at $88.8 million, with the contribution attributed to Campylobacter species of $61.7 million (Scott et al 2000). There is clearly a need for targeted control of this pathogen in the New Zealand setting.

In order to control campylobacteriosis, it is necessary to establish the routes of transmission into humans. Campylobacter spp. are considered normal flora for many animals (such as poultry, cattle, and sheep). Human infections are primarily due to exposure to contaminated food and water. The use of identification methodologies to demonstrate the links between environmental source and human environments has been one of the goals of epidemiology.

Identification methods have been increasingly used to determine the clonality of bacterial strains, and Campylobacter spp. is no exception. Use of specific markers, or a combination of these markers may help to identify the existence of source-specific strains and/or strains that have a greater virulence to humans.

A cornucopia of methods exist for the detection, culture, and identification of Campylobacter to the genus, species and strain level. Each type of method has its advantages and its disadvantages, and careful consideration of what information is desired should proceed selection of any method.

This report attempts to summarise many of the current methods that have been established to characterise and identify Campylobacter spp. There are some limitations in this report; specifically, the area of multilocus sequence typing has not received the attention that it deserves. In other instances, due to space constraints, omissions had to be made. This report is intended as a useful summary of identification methods of current (or past) interest in New Zealand in the first instance, as well as to a more general audience.

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