Assess the prevalence rate of Campylobacter genus and Campylobacter jejuni species in raw milk collected from the Amol City by Multiplex- Polymerase Chain Reaction

Background & Objective: Campylobacter can be transmitted through the raw milk. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of Campylobacter genus and Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) species in raw milk samples. Materials & Methods: In this study, 72 samples of raw milk were collected of the platforms milk in the Amol city in summer. Phenotypic identification of Campylobacter genus and C. jejuni species using microbiology laboratory methods and molecular identification of this bacterium using Multiplex- Polymerase Chain Reaction (M-PCR) were performed. The data was calculated using the SPSS 16.0 software and the Fisher's exact test (p < 0.05). Results: Among the 72 samples, 13.88% of samples were contaminated with C. jejuni and 2.77% were contaminated with Campylobacter genus. The highest prevalence rate for this bacterium was in July (20.83%) and the lowest prevalence rate was in September (12.5%). The significant difference between the prevalence of the Campylobacter genus and C. jejuni species in raw milk samples in various months of summer was not observed (p = 0.07). Conclusion: This study showed the raw milk contamination with Campylobacter, and thereby the sanitation in the dairy food production places and the use of fast and accurate method to identify this bacterium is important.