Thermotolerant bacteria belonging to the Campylobacter genus are one of the most common causes of human food infections due to ingestion of food, especially of animal origin. The disease (campylobacteriosis) in 90% of cases is the effect of C. jejuni but in its pathogenesis may also participate other genera such as C. coli, C. lari, and C. upsaliensis. The main source of microorganisms for humans is poultry which is a non-symptoms carrier of Campylobacter. For the evaluation of the discriminatory power of C. jejuni and C. coli isolates three techniques have then been selected which based on amplification of the DNA fragments with the PCR method (ERIC-PCR, RAPD-PCR) or on the restriction analysis with different endonucleases (PCR/RFLP). It was shown that all of them allowed classification of the group of the isolates tested into respective types thus they were in 100% typable. The classification of the individual techniques was done by the determination of the Simpson´s differentiation index (D) and subjective method traits such as easiness and time for performance of the test accessibility and cost of the analysis. It was found that the ERIC-PCR technique characterized with a high discriminatory power (D = 0.95) and it was also easy and rapid to perform as well as had a low cost. Similar advantages for the RAPD-PCR and, in some extend, for PCR/RFLP (flaA typing) methods have been observed. On the other hand, these techniques were not very much useful for differentiation of the C. coli isolates recovered from poultry carcasses (D index 0 and 0.41, respectively).

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