Development of PCR-based molecular tools for the detection of emerging food- ad water-borne pathogenic bacteria

In the last decade, many foodborne and waterborne emerging pathogenic bacteria (eg. Escherichia coli O157:H7, Helicobacter pylori, Campylobacter spp.) were found to be a serious health hazard for both developed and developing countries. The use of molecular based technologies in microbial diagnostic has greatly enhanced the ability to detect and quantify pathogenic bacteria in food and water. Many of these molecular tools have been accepted and implemented in standard protocols for detection and quantification of the most important pathogenic bacteria, such as Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes. In this chapter we summarize the “state of the art” in this field of research and the experiences we had in our research activity, regarding the development of methods for detection of E. coli O157:H7 and Helicobacter pylori.