Diversity and prevalence of Arcobacter spp. in broiler chickens

Abstract

Ninety-nine strains of Arcobacter spp., isolated from 10 chicken carcasses purchased from a supermarket and 15 chicken carcasses collected from a poultry abattoir, were speciated using a variety of phenotypic identification methods. All were tested using API Campy test strips and the 16-test (Preston) identification scheme developed for campylobacters. Fifty strains were selected for examination using a more comprehensive probabilistic identification scheme, and the identity of representative strains confirmed by protein profiling using SDS-PAGE. All 25 carcasses yielded Arcobacter butzleri. Three supermarket and 10 abattoir carcasses also carried A. cryaerophilus, and two abattoir carcasses carried A. skirrowii. The API Campy scheme proved unsatisfactory for identifying these strains: only 20 of 99 strains were accurately identified, all of which were A. cryaerophilus, the only Arcobacter sp. included in the database. Moreover, 76 of 99 strains were misidentified. The 16-test scheme identified all the arcobacter strains as A. cryaerophilus, since neither A. butzleri nor A. skirrowii had been described when the scheme was developed. The computer-assisted probabilistic scheme succeeded in identifying all but one strain, the identity of which was clarified by the use of SDS-PAGE. To our knowledge this is the first time that arcobacters other than A. butzleri have been reported in poultry meat or any other food of animal origin. Their high prevalence in poultry products may be of significance to public health.

Arcobacter halophilus sp. nov., the first obligate halophile in the genus Arcobacter

“…The same type strains of A. nitrofigilis and A. skirrowii showed only 4 % DNA-DNA reassociation with LA31BT, while A. butzleri and A. cryaerophilus showed 10 and 12 % DNA-DNA reassociation, respectively (these values are means of three to four replicate analyses). These data suggest that LA31B T cannot On et al (1996) and Atabay et al (1998). All strains were oxidase-positive, reduced nitrate and grew in air at 25 uC.…”

Arcobacter marinus sp. nov.

“…+, Positive; 2, negative; V, variable; W, weakly positive. (Atabay et al, 1998); for the anaerobic growth test, a temperature of 25 uC was used for taxon 4 (Atabay et al, 1998) and, for taxon 7, the result was from On et al (1996). DTemperature for the tests was not available.…”

Prevalence of campylobacters and arcobacters in ducks at the abattoir

“…were misidentified. As the API Campy database has not been revised since 1992, some of these differences are probably due to failure to allow for more recent taxonomic changes in the group (Atabay et al 1998a). …”

“…Arcobacter butzleri has been isolated from chickens by several groups of workers (Lammerding et al 1996;Marinescu et al 1996). Recent work in our laboratory has revealed the presence of A. skirrowii, A. butzleri and A. cryaerophilus and other campylobacter-like organisms on chicken carcasses (Atabay and Corry 1997;Atabay et al 1998a).…”