Development of a bacteriophage typing system for Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli

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Abstract
A bacteriophage typing system for C. jejuni and C. coli was developed with phages isolated from poultry feces. Data for phage selection were generated from a set of isolates of C. jejuni and C. coli from humans in Illinois [USA]. Selection of 14 phages from the 47 phages available was assisted by determination of the Sneath-Jaccard similarity coefficients and subsequent unweighted pair-group arithmetic averaging cluster analysis. The typing set was reproducible and stable in the 255 isolates from Illinois. Of these isolates, 94.5% were typable, with 46% represented by the 4 most common phage patterns. In a set of 51 isolates from humans outside of Illinois, 88.1% of the C. jejuni isolates were typable. Phage typing for C. jejuni and C. coli has excellent epidemiologic potential and should serve as a useful adjunct or alternative to serotyping systems in current use.