African Journal of
Microbiology Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Microbiol. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0808
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJMR
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 5238

Full Length Research Paper

Assessment of sensitivity, specificity and species discriminatory power of four culture-based isolation methods of Arcobacter spp

Shah A. H.1, Saleha A. A.1*, Murugaiyah M.2 and Zunita Zakaria1
  1Department of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. 2Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 23 August 2011
  •  Published: 16 October 2011

Abstract

 

A total of 142 samples including beef (n = 52), fresh milk (n = 45) and rectal swabs of cattle (n = 45) were collected from various wet markets (beef) and dairy cattle farms (milk and rectal swabs) in the vicinity of Selangor, Malaysia. All samples were examined for the presence of Arcobacter species using four different isolation methods. The organisms were first identified on the basis of phenotypic tests and later the suspected isolates were confirmed using multiplex PCR (mPCR). Method I (MI) and Method II (MII) detectedArcobacter in 43.7 and 75%, respectively from beef, but were unable to detect microbe from milk and rectal swabs. On the other hand, Method III (MIII) detected Arcobacter in 100, 60 and 40% of beef, milk and bovine rectal swab samples respectively; Method IV (MIV) detected 93.7, 60 and 40% in beef, milk and cattle rectal swabs respectively. The discriminatory power among the isolation methods for Arcobacter species was evaluated and MIII was found to be the best as it identified A. butzleri (72.7%); A. cryaerophilus(22.7%) and A. skirrowii (4.5%) while A. butzleri (61.1%), A. cryaerophilus (22.7%) and A. skirrowii (9%) were isolated from MIV.

 

Key words: Arcobacter; isolation methods, mPCR, beef, milk, cattle.