Identification

Identification of Campylobacter-like organisms(including Arcobacter, Helicobacter spp)

Isolate (pure culture) from urine, stool, blood, environmental, food, other.

Isolate provided on appropriate culture medium with visible growth. Samples can also be submitted under frozen conditions provided they are shipped in appropriate media to survive transport.

Suspected Campylobacter (and related species) should be placed in transport media (modified CB or Amies Transport with charcoal) and shipped on ice over night or as a frozen broth (containing glycerol) on dry ice. Isolates transported in glycerol-free broth culture should not be frozen or come into direct contact with ice packs. Cultured isolates submitted on solid media (plated cultures) should be recently inoculated and incubated in a microaerophilic environment for 18–24 hours prior to shipment. Shipment on solid media is not recommended due to decreased survivability for prolonged transport or unanticipated delays in transit.

Shipping of specimens shall be done by a TDG certified individual in accordance with TDG regulations. For additional information regarding classification of specimens for the purposes of shipping, consult eitherPart 2 Appendix 3 of the TDG Regulations or section 3.6.2 of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations as applicable.

Gastroenteritis, septicemia, infection, ulceration or other symptoms consistent with bacterial infection.

Completed Enteric Diseases requisition form.

N/A

MALDI-TOF MS (Bruker Biotyping): MALDI-TOF results analysed using the most current Bruker Biotyper (or supplemental, in-house derived) database (Not accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 at this time)

16S rRNA gene sequencing: Sequences compared to the 16s rDNA database of known reference sequences in publicly-available databases in NCBI (Genbank) and clustered (using BioNumerics or other tools)

PCR based identification: for C. jejuni, C. coli and C. fetus

Alternative identification methods that may be applied include:
-phenotypic identification
-whole genome sequencing based methodologies
(Not accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 at this time)

Please contact the laboratory using the information provided below for further information on specific interpretation guidelines.

For clinical diagnostic or outbreak samples*: 28 calendar days.

For surveillance or research samples*: 6 months

*Please indicate on requisition if identification is for i) clinical diagnostic or outbreak OR ii) surveillance or research application.

Please note that for poor or slower growing organisms reporting of results may be delayed beyond listed turnaround times.

1. PCR detection, identification to species level, and fingerprinting of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli direct from diarrheic samples. Linton et. al. 1997. J Clin Microbiol. Oct; 35(10): 2568–2572
2. Evaluation of a PCR Assay for Identification and Differentiation of Campylobacter fetus subspecies. Hum et. al. 1997. Aust Vet J. 75:827-831
3. Minimal standards for describing new species belonging to the families Campylobacteraceae and Helicobacteraceae: Campylobacter, Arcobacter, Helicobacter and Wolinella spp. On, et. al., 2017. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. Dec;67(12):5296-5311.
4. Gorkiewicz G, Feierl G, Schober C, Dieber F, Köfer J, Zechner R, Zechner EL. Species-specific identification of campylobacters by partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. J Clin Microbiol. 2003 Jun;41(6):2537-46. doi: 10.1128/JCM.41.6.2537-2546.2003. PMID: 12791878; PMCID: PMC156541.
5. Zhou G, Gu Y, Wang H, Chen X, Zhang X, Shao Z, Yan X, Zhang J, Zhang M. Genomic diversity and taxonomic marker for Arcobacter species. Front Microbiol. 2023 Oct 10;14:1278268. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1278268. PMID: 37881248; PMCID: PMC10594997.