During an 8-year study period, Arcobacter butzleri was the fourth most common Campylobacter -like organism isolated from 67,599 stool specimens. Our observations suggest that A. butzleri displays microbiologic and clinical features similar to those of Campylobacter jejuni ; however, A. butzleri is more frequently associated with a persistent, watery diarrhea.

A multiplex PCR assay with five primers targeting the 16S and 23S rRNA genes was developed for the simultaneous detection and identification of Arcobacter butzleri, Arcobacter cryaerophilus and Arcobacter skirrowii. The selected primers amplify a 257-bp fragment from A. cryaerophilus, a 401-bp fragment from A. butzleri and a 641-bp fragment from A. skirrowii. No PCR product was generated for closely related bacteria including Campylobacter and Helicobacter species. The assay was useful to identify cultures after in vitro cultivation and to detect and identify A. butlzeri and A. cryaerophilus from poultry samples present in 24-h old enrichment in Arcobacter broth with cefoperazone, amphotericin and teicoplanin (CAT)-supplement. ß

Interest in arcobacters in veterinary and human public health has increased since the first report of the isolation of arcobacters from food of animal origin. Since then, studies worldwide have reported the occurrence of arcobacters on food and in food production animals and have highlighted possible transmission, especially of Arcobacter butzleri, to the human population. In humans, arcobacters are associated with enteritis and septicemia. To assess their clinical relevance for humans and animals, evaluation of potential virulence factors is required. However, up to now, little has been known about the mechanisms of pathogenicity. Because of their close phylogenetic affiliation to the food-borne pathogen Campylobacter and their similar clinical manifestations, the presence of nine putative Campylobacter virulence genes (cadF, ciaB, cj1349, hecA, hecB, irgA, mviN, pldA, and tlyA) previously identified in the recent Arcobacter butzleri ATCC 49616 genome sequence was determined in a large set of human and animal Arcobacter butzleri, Arcobacter cryaerophilus, and Arcobacter skirrowii strains after the development of rapid and accurate PCR assays and confirmed by sequencing and dot blot hybridization.A rcobacters are increasingly being isolated from a wide range of food products all over the world. These Gram-negative bacteria have been classified into the family Campylobacteraceae (35), although a recent annotation of the Arcobacter butzleri genome suggests a closer phylogenetic relation to Sulfurimonas denitrificans and Wolinella succinogenes, both members of the Helicobacteraceae, as well as to the deep-sea vent Epsilonproteobacteria members Sulfurovum and Nitratiruptor (26). At present, 13 Arcobacter species have been characterized, of which 6 were isolated from mammals. In humans, A. butzleri is predominantly associated with enteritis and septicemia (24,30,46), though Arcobacter cryaerophilus and Arcobacter skirrowii have also been isolated from diarrheal stool specimens (21,33,44). The other three species, Arcobacter cibarius (15), Arcobacter thereius (14), and Arcobacter trophiarum (4) are present in farm animals and on food of animal origin but have not yet been isolated from human specimens.Contaminated drinking water is identified as a major source of human Arcobacter infection in developing regions (1), whereas in industrialized countries, infections are assumed to be food-borne. Close contact with pets and person-to-person transmission are the other potential risk factors (9, 36). Arcobacters seem to be commonly present on food of animal origin, with the highest prevalence reported for poultry followed by pork and beef (38,42). The origin of the contamination on poultry products is still debated (39), but for pork and beef, feces transmitted during the slaughter process is regarded as the initial source of contamination (40, 44).The A. butzleri ATCC 49616 genome revealed that this strain has putative virulence determinants such as genes cadF and cj1349, coding for fibronectin binding proteins; the invasi...

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A previously developed Arcobacter isolation protocol for poultry skin and meat was validated for the isolation of Arcobacter from feces of livestock animals. Good repeatability, in-lab reproducibility and sensitivity were achieved and the specificity was improved by additional incorporation of cycloheximide and increase of the novobiocin concentration in the selective supplement. The limit of detection of quantitative and qualitative analysis was 10(2) and 10(0) cfu g(-1) feces, respectively. From fecal samples collected at slaughterhouse, Arcobacter was isolated from 43.9% of porcine, 39.2% of bovine, 16.1% of ovine and 15.4% of equine samples. All three animal-associated Arcobacter species were isolated and levels up to 10(3) cfu g(-1) feces were determined.