Urease-positive thermophilic strains of Campylobacter isolated from seagulls (Larus spp.)

Three strains of urease-positive thermophilic Campylobacter (UPTC), designa ted A1, A2 and A3, were identified by biochemical characterization after is olation from faeces of seagulls in Northern Ireland in 1996. The biochemica l characteristics of the strains were identical to those of strains describ ed previously. Analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) after se parate digestion with ApaI and SmaI demonstrated that the respective PFGE p rofiles were indistinguishable. The PFGE analysis also suggested that the g enomes were approximately 1810 kb in length. This is the first example of t he isolation of UPTC from flying homoiothermal animals, i.e. from seagulls (Larus spp.).