Comparison of Yersinia enterocolitica detection by PCR and conventional culturing

Objective To compare the performance of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and conventional culturing in the detection of Yersinia enterocolitica. Methods The swine throat swabs and intestine content samples were collected to extract bacterium genomic DNA and detect specific genes ail and foxA of Y. enterocolitica with PCR amplification, and to isolate Y. enterocolitica by conventional culturing. Results Among the 700 samples collected, 402 (57.43%) were positive in PCR amplifications and 278 (39.71%) were positive in conventional culturing. There were 271 Y. enterocolitica strains isolated from the 402 PCR positive samples by conventional culturing (67.41%) and 7 Yersinia strains isolated from the 298 PCR negative samples by conventional culturing (2.35%). Conclusion The sensitivity of PCR amplification of ail and foxA is significant higher than that of conventional culturing in detecting Y. enterocolitica in swine throat swabs and intestine content samples (P0.05).