Prevalence and strain diversity of thermophilic campylobacters in cattle, sheep and swine farms

Abstract

Aims: To determine prevalence and strain diversity of thermophilic campylobacters in healthy ruminants and swine. Methods and Results: Faecal samples collected from 343 herds (120 sheep, 124 beef cattle, 82 dairy cattle and 17 swine) in the Basque Country were screened in pools for thermophilic campylobacters. Two hundred and three herds were positive (67·1% dairy cattle, 58·9% beef cattle, 55·0% sheep and 52·9% pig), and species‐specific PCR identified Campylobacter jejuni in 20·7% of the herds and Campylobacter coli in 6·4%. Campylobacter coli was isolated from the four production systems and was the most prevalent species in swine, where C. jejuni was not found. Other thermophilic campylobacters were found in all production systems. Four hundred and ninety‐three animals from 11 positive herds were individually analysed, detecting significantly higher within‐herd prevalences in dairy cattle (66·7%) and swine (57·8%) than in sheep (8·8%) or beef cattle (5·4%). flaA PCR–RFLP and pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis analysis of a selection of isolates showed high genetic diversity. Conclusions: Healthy swine, cattle and sheep are important reservoirs of thermophilic campylobacters of different species and high genetic diversity. Significance and Impact of the Study: Efficient farm‐based intervention measures are needed to reduce risk of infection. Non‐C. jejuni/C. coli species should be monitored to investigate their significance for infection.

Drinking water as the source ofCampylobacter coliinfection in grandparent heavy breeders

“…Chickens are not the main host for C. coli, which shows a preference for swine or cattle (Botteldoorn et al, 2001;Oporto et al, 2007), although some studies have shown that C. coli is capable of colonizing chickens efficiently (Bull et al, 2006;Miller et al, 2006). This fact is proven in our study, in which C. coli appeared in a higher percentage of chickens than C. jejuni.…”

Human and Animal Thermophilic Campylobacter infections in East African countries: Epidemiology and Antibiogram

“…In most of the studies in both countries, C. jejuni accounted for the majority of Campylobacter detected in farm animals including pigs. These findings in pigs contradict those of other studies which indicated that Campylobacter infections in pigs show a dominance of C. coli [73][74][75][76]. Nevertheless, the finding is supported by some other studies which have found a dominance of C. jejuni in pigs [77,78].…”

A Cytolethal Distending Toxin Gene-Based Multiplex PCR Assay for Detection of <i>Campylobacter</i> spp. in Stool Specimens and Comparison with Culture Method

“…Campylobacter spp. can be found in the intestinal tract of a wide variety of wild and domesticated animals without any obvious clinical symptoms [11,19,24]. Thus, the major transmission route of infection is hypothesized as the ingestion of food of animal origins, in particular consumption of undercooked poultry, and secondary contaminated foods [23].…”