Development of a novel and specialized cultivation method for isolating Helicobacter pullorum from chicken meat

It has become established that Helicobacter pullorum could be isolated from raw chicken meat.

This study was aimed to develop a novel culture method (protocol B) to isolate H. pullorum from chicken meat by adding some modifications to the traditional culture method (protocol A), and as a consequence to compare their sensitivity, specificity, and the accuracy of these methods with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

400 chicken meat samples were collected from various retail markets and supermarkets. Each sample was processed by protocol A, protocol B, and PCR test.

Out of 400 samples, 77 (19.25%), and 163 (40.75%) were culture-positive by protocol A and protocol B, respectively. Using PCR test as a gold standard, 196 (49%) samples were identified as H. pullorum. The specificity for both protocols was determined 100%, while the sensitivity of protocol B and protocol A was assessed 83% and 39%, respectively. Also, the higher and lower accuracy belonged to protocol B (92%) and protocol A (70%), respectively.

The methodology designed herein can provide a suitable, approximately sensitive, specific, and accurate method to cultivate H. pullorum from chicken meat.