Evaluation of the Arylsulfatase Test and Pyrazineamidase Test for the Differentiation of Campylobacter and Related Organisms

ArylsulfataseandPyrazineamidase activitiesandindoxylacetatehydrolysiswereexamined in a total of 99 Campylobacter and Helicobacter strains belonging to the following species; C. jejuni, C. coli, C. fetus, C. hyointestinalis, C. lari, “C. lari variant”, C. upsaliensis, C. sputorum, H. cinaedi, H. fennelliae, H. pylori and H. mustelae, “C. lari variant”, C. sputorum and H. cinaedi gave positive results in the arylsulfatase test. C. jejuni, C. coli, C. jejuni subsp. doylei, “C. lari variant” and C. sputorum biovar fecalis gave positive results in the pyrazineamidase test. All strains of C. jejuni, C. coli, C. upsaliensis and H. mustelae were positive for indoxyl acetate hydrolysis, whereas C. fetus, C. hyointestinalis, C. lari, C. sputorum, H. cinaedi and H. pylori were negative. These tests provided to be valuable methods for the phenotypic identification of Campylobacter spp. and relative organisms.