Prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in marine fishes, crustaceans and molluscs in Kozhikode district, Kerala#

Abstract

Campylobacteriosis is one of the leading causes of bacterial gastroenteritis world over, with a self-limiting nature. Nevertheless some rare sequelae like Guillain-Barre syndrome, Reiter syndrome and reactive arthritis are evident. With poultry as a major reservoir, the organism is ubiquitous in nature and has been isolated from various sources like animals and the environment. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the occurrence of Campylobacter spp. in marine fishes (n=48), crustaceans (n=35) and molluscs (n=50) from Puthiyappa, a fish catchment area of coastal Kerala (India) using multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) in combination with conventional plating technique using Blood-free campylobacter broth and modified Charcoal Cefoperazone Deoxycholate (mCCD) agar. Campylobacter spp. was found to be present in marine fishes, crustaceans and molluscs at a level of 6.3, 8.6 and 28.0 per cent, respectively. The predominant species was Campylobacter jejuni in fishes, while Campylobacter coli was more prevalent in molluscs. Of the seasonally available fishes, the organism was found to be present in ribbon fish, pink perch, pony fish, while among molluscs, it was present in mussel, squid and clam. Only 8.3 and 6.0 per cent of Campylobacter spp. were recoverable from fishes and molluscs, respectively, on mCCDA plates. Campylobacter spp. in these marine fishes and shellfishes indicate that these can act as possible sources for the transmission of food-borne campylobacteriosis.