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Interest in arcobacters in veterinary and human public health has increased since the first report of the isolation of arcobacters from food of animal origin. Since then, studies worldwide have reported the occurrence of arcobacters on food and in food production animals and have highlighted possible transmission, especially of Arcobacter butzleri, to the human population. In humans, arcobacters are associated with enteritis and septicemia. To assess their clinical relevance for humans and animals, evaluation of potential virulence factors is required. However, up to now, little has been known about the mechanisms of pathogenicity. Because of their close phylogenetic affiliation to the food-borne pathogen Campylobacter and their similar clinical manifestations, the presence of nine putative Campylobacter virulence genes (cadF, ciaB, cj1349, hecA, hecB, irgA, mviN, pldA, and tlyA) previously identified in the recent Arcobacter butzleri ATCC 49616 genome sequence was determined in a large set of human and animal Arcobacter butzleri, Arcobacter cryaerophilus, and Arcobacter skirrowii strains after the development of rapid and accurate PCR assays and confirmed by sequencing and dot blot hybridization.A rcobacters are increasingly being isolated from a wide range of food products all over the world. These Gram-negative bacteria have been classified into the family Campylobacteraceae (35), although a recent annotation of the Arcobacter butzleri genome suggests a closer phylogenetic relation to Sulfurimonas denitrificans and Wolinella succinogenes, both members of the Helicobacteraceae, as well as to the deep-sea vent Epsilonproteobacteria members Sulfurovum and Nitratiruptor (26). At present, 13 Arcobacter species have been characterized, of which 6 were isolated from mammals. In humans, A. butzleri is predominantly associated with enteritis and septicemia (24,30,46), though Arcobacter cryaerophilus and Arcobacter skirrowii have also been isolated from diarrheal stool specimens (21,33,44). The other three species, Arcobacter cibarius (15), Arcobacter thereius (14), and Arcobacter trophiarum (4) are present in farm animals and on food of animal origin but have not yet been isolated from human specimens.Contaminated drinking water is identified as a major source of human Arcobacter infection in developing regions (1), whereas in industrialized countries, infections are assumed to be food-borne. Close contact with pets and person-to-person transmission are the other potential risk factors (9, 36). Arcobacters seem to be commonly present on food of animal origin, with the highest prevalence reported for poultry followed by pork and beef (38,42). The origin of the contamination on poultry products is still debated (39), but for pork and beef, feces transmitted during the slaughter process is regarded as the initial source of contamination (40, 44).The A. butzleri ATCC 49616 genome revealed that this strain has putative virulence determinants such as genes cadF and cj1349, coding for fibronectin binding proteins; the invasi...

From April 1998 to March 2000, 18 broiler flocks were followed from the hatchery to the slaughterhouse. Campylobacter was not found in the hatchery, 1-day-old chicks or in the rearing house before the arrival of the chicks. The infection of broiler flocks increased continuously during the rearing time, with a total of seven positive flocks at the end of rearing. Farms with Campylobacter-positive broilers were characterized by the circulation of Campylobacter in the environment (puddles, dung hill) and on the footwear of the farmer. The administration of antibiotics did not significantly reduce Campylobacter shedding. With the exception of one flock during rearing and a few flocks in the slaughterhouse with a mixed Campylobacter coli-Campylobacter jejuni infection, C. jejuni exclusively was found both during rearing and on the carcasses. A significant correlation exits between the contamination of the broilers during rearing and the carcasses after processing. No slaughterhouse was able to avoid contamination of carcasses when status-positive animals were delivered. Moreover, six negatively delivered flocks yielded positive carcasses, the result of a supplementary contamination, which occurred during transport and slaughtering.

Data were collected on the prevalence of salmonella at different stages during the life cycle of 18 broiler flocks on different farms as well as during slaughter in different poultry slaughterhouses. For the isolation of salmonella, the highest sensitivity (93.9%) was obtained by enrichment in the semi-solid agar Diasalm. The 'overshoe method' utilizing several pairs of overshoes provided the highest sensitivity for determining the salmonella status of the broilers during rearing. A clear decrease of the relative importance of the first production stages was demonstrated for the salmonella contamination of the end product, whereas horizontal transmission of salmonella to broilers during rearing and to broiler carcasses in the slaughterhouse was shown to be the main determinative factor. Ten of the 18 flocks received a salmonella positive status with the highest shedding occurring during the first 2 weeks of rearing. The shedding of the animals was significantly negatively influenced by the use of subtherapeutic or therapeutic doses of antibiotics. The intake of portable material in the broiler house was identified as the most important risk factor for horizontal transmission. Significant associations were found between the contamination level of a flock and hygiene of the broiler house, feed and water in the broiler house and both animal and non-animal material sampled in the environment. No correlation was found between contamination during the rearing period and contamination found after slaughtering. The presence of faecal material in the transport crates and predominantly the identity of the slaughterhouse seemed to be the determining factors for carcass quality. Improved hygiene management during transport of broilers and in some slaughterhouses could significantly reduce the risk of salmonella contamination of poultry meat.

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