Described herein are compositions, methods, and kits for detecting
diarrhea causing pathogens from patient, food, or environmental samples. One embodiment described herein is primer pairs and probes for
multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based assays for the detection of gastrointestinal pathogens, such as Adenovirus, Astrovirus,
Rotavirus,
Norovirus,
Sapovirus,
Campylobacter species,
Clostridium difficile, Enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), Shiga-like
toxin-producing E. coli (STEC),
Shigella / Enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), E. coli O157,
Listeria monocytogenes, Plesiomonas shigelloides,
Salmonella species,
Yersinia enterocolitica,
Vibrio species,
Cryptosporidium species, Cyclospora cayetanensis, Entamoeba histolytica,
Giardia intestinalis, or
Giardia lamblia. Other embodiments include methods and kits for detecting gastrointestinal pathogens.