New Bax Assay Allows Fast and Accurate Identification of Campylobacter Species

Oxoid Limited, marketing partner for the DuPont Qualicon BAX® System in Europe, Australia and Canada, is pleased to announce the launch of the new BAX® Real Time PCR assay for Campylobacter.

Most current screening procedures for Campylobacter are culture-based, take at least 3 days for a result and do not differentiate between species without additional investigational work. The new BAX Real Time Campylobacter assay allows:

? Differentiation between the pathogenic species C.jejuni, C.coli and C.lari
? Quantification of three Campylobacter species
? Same day results for highly contaminated samples (direct protocol)
? Next day/two day results for samples requiring enrichment.

The BAX System is simple and easy to use. Lysis is straight-forward and requires no additional equipment. All reagents required for PCR are supplied in a single tablet conveniently packaged inside the PCR tubes provided in each kit. Tableted reagents minimise the amount of hands-on time required for processing whilst simultaneously simplifying and standardising the procedure. Results are interpreted automatically and are ready for reporting. If necessary, icons and graphs make further result interrogation simple and easy to visualise.

The BAX Real Time Campylobacter assay has been validated internally for use on poultry rinses and ready-to-eat poultry products. These studies have shown that the BAX System performs equal to or better than traditional cultural methods, but with a quicker time to result. Two protocols exist: highly contaminated samples can be processed directly and will give a quantified result in only 2½ hours. Other samples (such as ready-to-eat chicken) require enrichment, with results available as soon as next day.

The BAX System Real Time PCR Assay for Campylobacter jejuni/coli/lari will be submitted to AOAC-RI for Performance Tested? method approval.