Prevalence of 11 pathogenic genes of Campylobacter jejuni by PCR in strains isolated from humans, poultry meat and broiler and bovine faeces

Although many genes related to the pathogenicity of Campylobacter jejuni have been reported, the relationships between these genes and the sources of strains are not clear. In this study, the presence of 11 pathogenic genes responsible for the expression of adherence, invasion, colonization and cytotoxin production was examined in 111 C. jejuni isolated from human clinical samples, poultry meat, broiler faeces and bovine faeces. For most of the pathogenic genes, no difference in their presence in C. jejuni was found among the sources, but, for racR, w/aN and virB11, there were some variations among sources. The racR gene was present at rates of 98.2 (human clinical samples), 90.5 (poultry meat), 85.7 (broiler faeces) and 76.7 % (bovine faeces). Detection rates for the w/aN gene were 25.0, 23.8, 4.7 and 7.7 % and those for the virB11 gene were 10.7, 9.5, 9.5 and 15.4 % in human clinical samples, poultry meat, broiler faeces and bovine faeces, respectively. One hundred and seven of 111 strains (96.4 %) carried from eight to 10 of the pathogenic genes. These data did not show remarkable differences in the presence of pathogenic genes carried by C. jejuni from various sources.