| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4559294 | Food Control | 2015 | 8 Pages |
•Chicken fecal samples were used for the construction of standard curves.•Chicken fecal samples were processed fresh within 30 h of collection.•There were differences between the methods in Campylobacter quantification.•Differences between culture and real-time PCR were not statistically significant for most of the samples used in the study.•The use of filters may translate on lower estimates of Campylobacter numbers.
Poultry has been identified as a significant source for human campylobacteriosis which constitutes an important zoonosis and public health problem in many areas of the world. Rapid, direct and accurate quantification of Campylobacter in poultry is essential for the assessment of public health risks and for the evaluation of control strategies implemented in poultry production. The aim of this study was to compare estimates of the numbers of Campylobacter spp. in naturally infected chicken fecal samples obtained using direct quantification by selective culture and by real-time PCR. Absolute quantification of Campylobacter by real-time PCR was performed using standard curves designed for two different DNA extraction methods: Easy-DNA™ Kit from Invitrogen (Easy-DNA) and NucliSENS® MiniMAG® from bioMérieux (MiniMAG). Results indicated that the estimation of the numbers of Campylobacter present in chicken fecal samples was partly dependent on the methodologies used. In general, the numbers of Campylobacter obtained by real-time PCR when extracting DNA using the MiniMAG method were in most cases higher than the numbers of Campylobacter obtained by selective culture and by real-time PCR when using the Easy-DNA method. Although there were differences in terms of estimates of Campylobacter numbers between the methods and samples, the differences between culture and real-time PCR were not statistically significant for most of the samples used in this study.
