Comparative Analysis of Cultural and PCR Based Assays for Detection of Campylobacter spp. in Human Stool Samples

Campylobacter species is recognized as the most common causative agent of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. Infections caused by these organisms occur more frequently than infections due to Salmonella, Shigella or Escherichia coli 0157:H7. Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli are undetected causes of diarrhoea especially in children under 5 years of age in most of the countries. The present study was designed to determine the prevalence of Campylobacter in children suffering from diarrhoea. A total of 75 diarrhoeic stool samples were collected from children under 5 years of age from hospitals and clinics located in and around Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh, India. The samples were examined by cultural as well as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based detection method. Out of 75 samples examined, only one sample was positive by cultural method, where as five samples showed presence of Campylobacter spp. by polymerase chain reaction with prevalence rate of 1.33 and 6.66 %, respectively. The sample positive by culture was also positive by PCR. Campylobacter spp. was confirmed to be C. jejuni, both phenotypically as well as genotypically. The results depicted the superior efficacy of PCR for rapid screening of samples owing to its high rapidity, specificity and automation potential. © 2015, The National Academy of Sciences, India.