Occurrence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in marine fish and shellfish

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a marine bacterium that causes seafood borne gastroenteritis and traveler's diarrhea in humans, after consumption of contaminated raw or partially cooked fish or shell fish. In this study a total of 224 marine fish and shellfish samples were screened that included 34 of Bhetki (Lates calcar(er), 40 of Parse (Liza parsia), 40 of Pabda (Ompok pabda), 30 of Pomfret (Pampus chinensis), 38 of Lote fish (Harpodon nehereus) and 42 of Tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon). V parahaemolyticus was identified by biochemical characterization and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the toxR gene. Out of 224 samples, V parahaemolyticus could be isolated and biochemically characterized from 170 (75. 9 %) samples including L. calcarifer 31(91.2%), L. parsia 28 (70.0%), O. pabda 30 (75.0%), P. chinensis 22 (73.3%), H. nehereus 28 (73.7%) and P. monodon 31(73.8%). All the positive isolates were further confirmed by PCR amplification of target gene, toxR.