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Background: Detection of fastidious enteropathogenic bacteria in fecal samples of patients with gastroenteritis is a challenge in clinical microbiological laboratories. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the detection limits of the PCR and culture methods for the diagnosis of Campylobacter spp., Yersinia spp., Clostridium perfringens, and Clostridium difficile in human stool samples. Methods: Healthy human stool and sterile phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) samples were separately spiked with 10-fold dilutions of C. jejuni, C. difficile, Y. enterocolitica, and C. perfringens reference strains to obtain final concentrations of 10 1 -10 8 colony forming

Background: Detection of the cause of diarrhoeal diseases is important for the management of the outbreaks. Aims: This study investigated the prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing bacteria in stool samples of patients with diarrhoea associated with outbreaks of foodborne illness in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Methods: A total of 532 stool and rectal swab samples from 70 sporadic outbreaks during May 2014 to August 2015 were examined for infection with Shiga toxin-producing bacteria. The isolates were examined for carriage of the virulence genes stx 1 and stx 2 in all isolates and eae/ehxA in Escherichia coli.Results: E. coli, Shigella spp., Citrobacter spp., Enterobacter spp., Klebsiella spp. and other enteric bacteria were detected in 77.7% (376/484), 5.0% (24/484), 3.9% (19/484), 0.4% (2/484), 3.7% (18/484) and 9.3% (45/484) of the samples respectively. Of the 196 sorbitol-negative E. coli strains, 3 (1.5%) carried the stx 1 gene as did 2 of the 19 (10.5%) Citrobacter strains. Conclusion: Shiga toxin-producing Citrobacter spp. strains should be considered as a newly emerging foodborne pathogen in outbreaks.