IDENTIFICATION AND EPIDEMIOLOGIC TYPING OF CAMPYLOBACTER-HYOINTESTINALIS SUBSPECIES BY PHENOTYPIC AND GENOTYPIC METHODS AND DESCRIPTION OF NOVEL SUBGROUPS

Twenty-eight type, reference, and field strains classified as, or clos ely resembling Campylobacter hyointestinalis, were characterised by ph enotypic tests, whole-cell protein-, and macrorestriction profiling. T he phenotypic, and protein data, were objectively evaluated by numeric al analyses. Each of the methods employed were able to differentiate i solates classified as C. hyointestinalis subsp. hyointestinalis and C. hyointestinalis subsp. lawsonii. However, two strains of the latter p roved to be phenotypically atypical. These strains appeared to be clos ely related and may represent an atypical lineage of this taxon. Two n ovel, distinct groups of C. hyointestinalis-like bacteria, originally isolated from the cloacae of Canada geese and human diarrhoeic stools, were also identified by each of the methods used. This appears to be the first report confirming the presence of C. hyointestinalis-like st rains from birds and may be significant since the carriage of campylob acters in other avian species is a known risk factor in the disseminat ion of enteric disease. This study shows that strains resembling C. hy ointestinalis should be characterised more extensively in order to acc urately establish their identity and thus provide important informatio n regarding the prevalence, importance, and epidemiology of the define d subspecies, and the novel groups described here. Simultaneous identi fication and subtyping of each taxon can be effected by protein- and/o r macrorestriction profiling.