Determination of Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus and Campylobacter jejuni in Aborted Sheep Fetuses by Multiplex PCR Assay

Campylobacteriosis is a contagious and zoonotic infection characterized by abortion and infertility in animals. Ovine campylobacteriosis is caused by Campylobacter (C.) fetus subsp. fetus or C. jejuni. As a result of the slow-growing bacterial agents and the high lability of Campylobacter species, laboratory diagnosis of these agents has always been problematic. Several publications on detection of Campylobacter spp. DNA from reference strains or pure culture have been presented. However, studies that have been carried out on field or clinical samples of sheep are quite limited. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the utilization of multiplex-PCR (m-PCR) assay in the diagnosis of ovine campylobacteriosis from abomasal content samples of aborted sheep fetuses. A total of 116 aborted sheep fetuses were tested and C. fetus subsp. fetus was isolated from 8 (6.9%) samples. The m-PCR assay was conducted and amplified C. fetus subsp. fetus-specific DNA in 13 (11.2%) of the abomasum contents. Cohen's kappa coefficient revealed substantial (kappa: 0.74) agreement between bacteriological culture and m-PCR methods. The results of this study suggest that the m-PCR assay is more sensitive and reliable than conventional bacteriological culture for detection of Campylobacter species.