Rapid Detection of Pathogenic Salmonella spp. in Green Leaves by Standard Microbiological Techniques and Molecular Methods in Erbil Province

Salmonella is a group of Gram-negative rod shaped bacteria belongs to the Enterobacteriaceae family, 2,500 serotypes have been defined for Salmonella, are associated with 1.3 billion cases of gastroenteritis and 3 million deaths worldwide. For diagnosis of Salmonella spp. 100 vegetable samples was collected from four types of green leaves (Arugula, Leek, Celery and Cress) during February to April 2018, and then examined by cultural method using tow enrichment broth,. Afterward, Salmonella spp. were detected by PCR using Inv-A gene (796 bps). In this investigation, microbiological methods and molecular methods had been used for the diagnosis of Salmonella spp. Combination of both methods confirmed contamination of thirty samples which showed abnormal range for the contamination of vegetables in Erbil province. The present study concluded that both traditional and molecular based techniques like PCR are complementary. In this study, PCR study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Salmonella spp. at the level of Inv-A gene from vegetables, where microbiological findings were combined with the PCR results.