Detection of Salmonella enteritidis in Stool Specimens by Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction Technique

Abstract

This study was carried out in the period from May 2007- March 2008 to detect the presence of Salmonella enteritidis in patients suffering from gastroenteritis. Forty-seven stool specimens were collected from patients attending Albangadid teaching hospital and Alzahra medical centre. Bacterial DNA was extracted from each stool specimen using phenol choloroform technique. Real-time PCR technique was adopted to detect presence of Salmonella enteritidis. The result revealed that only one (2.1%) specimen was positive. The study concluded that the Real-time PCR technique facilitates detection of bacterial pathogens without bacteriological culture.