Characterization of isolated thermophilic campylobacters and associated risk factors in poultry farms of Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

Background Campylobacters are the common commensals of poultry responsible for several cases of gastroenteritis in humans. The illness, if severe can result into complications causing a nervous disorder named Guillian Barre syndrome. Owing to its serious health implications, the study aimed to screen eight organized poultry farms and their environment (water, litter, manure, and feed) of Uttarakhand state, India for the presence of thermophilic Campylobacter species and their virulence and antibiotic resistance profile. It also undertook identification of risk factors associated with the occurrence of campylobacters in each farm using a questionnaire survey comprising eleven potential risk factors (other animals on farm, reuse of litters, use of foot bath, in house or branded feed, chlorination of water, distance of manure heap, housing system, flock size, floor type, shoe use by farm personnels, moist or dry litter and number of broiler floor). Results Of eight, six farms showed varying occurrence of C.jejuni and C.coli with an overall prevalence of 12.29%. Not a single isolate of C.lari and C.upsaliensis was recorded. Poultry faecal, water and litter samples observed 18.2%, 6% and 1.9% presence, respectively. Feed and manure samples did not appear positive. In 48 revived Campylobacter isolates, 100% presence of cadF and flaA virulence genes were detected followed by cdtB (97.9%), cgtB (22.9%) and ciaB (12.5%), respectively. Ten isolates 23.80%) were multidrug resistant (MDR) exhibiting resistance to at least 3 or more antimicrobial classes. The most common MDR patterns were AMP CX CIP TE (n = 2) and AMP CX CIP (n = 2). Feeding of branded feed was found to have significant association with Campylobacter presence in the examined broiler flocks (p-value 0.0047). Conclusions The study highlights the occurrence of food pathogens, Campylobacter jejuni and C.coli in the poultry farms and their environment of the state. The organisms possessed significant virulence genes capable of developing critical human illness. Overall, the presence of MDR thermophilic campylobacters appears to be a severe public threat.