Abstract

Having in mind that fowl and avian byproducts for human consumption are important reservoirs and vehicles for C. jejuni ssp. jejuni, a serotyping study was conducted in 50 strains isolated from avian meat and 50 isolated from human diarrhoeic stools. C. jejuni ssp. jejuni serotyping was carried out using a commercial kit with 25 antisera (DENKA SEIKEN), based on the Penner's passive haemagglutination technique. Serotypes A, B, F, L, N e Y were concomitantly found in both kinds of samples. Serotypes Z 2 (16%) and Z 5 (12%) were the most frequently found in human strains, whereas serotypes A (28%), C (10%), L (10%) and Y (10%) were the most frequently isolated from avian samples. However, serotypes Z and C did not coexist in both types of samples. The latter results suggest that additionally to fowl and avian meat, there might be other animal reservoirs and vehicles that could act as contamination sources of this bacterium for humans.