Isolation, characterization, and serotyping of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli from slaughter cattle

Abstract

A total of 525 specimens from 100 slaughter beef cattle were examined for the presence of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli by direct plating and enrichment techniques. Isolates were identified by cultural, biochemical, antibiotic sensitivity, and immunofluorescence tests and further characterized with the aid of recently developed biotyping and serotyping methods. Fifty animals were positive for C. jejuni; only one was positive for C. coli. The distribution pattern of C. jejuni-positive animals, in decreasing order, was steers (55%), bulls (40%), heifers (40%), and cows (22%). Significantly higher isolation rates were obtained from the gall bladders (33%), large intestines (35%), and simall intestines (31%) than from the livers (12%) or the lymph nodes (1.4%). C. jejuni isolation by the enrichment technique was 40.2% more frequent than by direct plating; 24-h enrichment resulted in 24% more isolations than 48-h enrichment. Eighty-four of 105 C. jejuni cultures were typable serologically and represented 13 serogroups. Biotype I accounted for 71% of biotyped cultures. Serogroup 7 biotype I was the most commonly encountered (24%) isolate. About one in three positive animals had C. jejuni strains representing more than one serogroup. C. jejuni serogroups encountered in slaughter cattle were similar to those commonly isolated from human sources.

Prevalence and Carcass Contamination With Campylobacter in Sheep Sent for Slaughter in Scotland

“…As expected from the evidence found in the literature (Garcia et al 1985;Stanley et al 1998), enrichment prior to plating resulted in an increased 245 CAMPYLOBACTER PREVALENCE IN SHEEP recovery of Campylobacter from the fecal samples concerned (49% by direct plating and 64% after enrichment). Direct plating was not carried out on wool or carcass samples, so equivalent figures are not available for those sites.…”

“…Domestic and wild animals constitute a large reservoir of Campylobacter and it is possible to find a high rate of infection in clinically healthy animals. Campylobacter is frequently found in the intestinal tracts of cattle and sheep (Gill and Harris 1982;Garcia et al 1985; National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods 1994; Altekruse et al 1999;Nachamkin and Blaser 2000;Wesley et al 2000;Dykes and Moorhead 2001). The shedding of Campylobacter species from the digestive system and its presence on the skin/hides of the animals is a cause of contamination for meat and the environment.…”

The isolation and prevalence of campylobacters from dairy cattle using a variety of methods

“…jejuni subsp. jejuni; Humphrey and Beckett 1987) or a few (Garcia et al 1985;Grau 1988;Ono et al 1995) species of Campylobacter and all used isolation media and temperatures devised for the isolation of classical species of Campylobacter (such as Camp. jejuni subsp.…”

“…Various researchers have isolated Campylobacter species from the faeces of healthy cattle (Garcia et al 1985;Humphrey and Beckett 1987;Grau 1988;Giacoboni et al 1993;Ono et al 1995). Although poultry is considered to be the most important source of human campylobacter enteritis, major outbreaks have been recorded from contaminated or inadequately pasteurized milk (Pearson and Healing 1992;Morgan et al 1994;Fahey et al 1995).…”

Seasonal variation of thermophilic campylobacters in lambs at slaughter

“…As thermophilic campylobacters are unable to grow in the environment, their reservoirs, the intestines of warm-blooded mammals and birds (Park et al 1991), are very important features in their epidemiology. Although it is well recognized that the consumption and handling of poultry is an important risk to humans (Shane 1991;Linton 1996;Wallace et al 1997), campylobacters have been isolated from a variety of food animals such as sheep (Grau 1991), beef cattle (Garcia et al 1985) and dairy cattle (Meanger and Marshal 1988).…”