Molecular typing of Campylobacter jejuni diarrhoeal isolates in a hospital in Makokou, Gabon by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR.

Abstract

Context . Campylobacter jejuniis responsible for 80% of the cases of human foodborne bacterial enteric infections worldwide. However, limited data on its genetic diversity exist, especially using the enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR (ERIC-PCR). The study aimed to determine the genetic diversity of C. jejuni strains isolated from infant diarrhoeal faeces at the Omar Bongo Ondimba Regional Health Center of Makokou (CHROBOM), Gabon. Materials and methods. A total of 58 strains of C. jejuni from patients with gastroenteritis were used in this study. The ERIC-PCR method was used to characterize genetic diversity. The binomial manual method via the online analysis system (http://insilico.ehu.es/dice_upgma/) was used to establish the dendrogram and calculate the discriminatory power of the Simpson diversity index (D). Results. The genotyping of C. jejuni isolates by the ERIC-PCR method revealed a discriminatory index D=0.8451, dividing the 58 isolates into 10 clusters, with 33 genotypic profiles, including 22 non-repeated profiles and 11 repeated profiles. These results indicate a rather polymorphic diversity of C. jejuni in the Makokou region of Gabon. Conclusion. The high discriminatory diversity index obtained in this study demonstrates the polymorphic richness within C. jejuni strains as revealed by the ERIC-PCR method.