Survival of Clinical and Poultry-Derived Isolates of Campylobacter jejuni at a Low Temperature (4°C)

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in humans, and contamination of poultry has been implicated in illness. The bacteria are fastidious in terms of their temperature requirements, being unable to grow below ca. 31°C, but have been found to be physiologically active at lower temperatures and to tolerate exposure to low temperatures in a strain-dependent manner. In this study, 19 field isolates of C. jejuni (10 of clinical and 9 of poultry origin) were studied for their ability to tolerate prolonged exposure to low temperature (4°C). Although substantial variability was found among different strains, clinical isolates tended to be significantly more likely to remain viable following cold exposure than poultry-derived strains. In contrast, the relative degree of tolerance of the bacteria to freezing at ؊20°C and freeze-thawing was strain specific but independent of strain source (poultry versus clinical) and degree of cold (4°C) tolerance.Campylobacter jejuni is currently a leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in humans (1,20,30). Infection by C. jejuni is also the most common antecedent to Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder of the peripheral nervous system (19). C. jejuni and related campylobacters are unique among human food-borne pathogens in being obligate microaerophiles and in their narrow and rather unusual temperature range for growth. C. jejuni and other "thermophilic campylobacters" grow optimally at a relatively high temperature (42°C), but their minimal growth temperature is in the range of 31 to 36°C (3,5,8), and growth ceases abruptly around 30°C (8).C. jejuni is a commensal microbe in avian species, including poultry (13, 36), and epidemiological studies have frequently implicated raw and undercooked poultry in human campylobacteriosis (1,20,30). A substantial portion (as much as 98%) of poultry at retail is contaminated with the pathogen (1, 29). Other meat products can also be contaminated with Campylobacter and can contribute to human illness, along with untreated water, raw milk, and exposure to live birds and to pets with diarrhea (1,20).Several studies suggest that, in spite of fastidious requirements for growth, C. jejuni has the potential for remarkable survival under conditions nonpermissive to growth. In surface waters and water microcosms, survival was shown to be limited to a few days at ambient temperatures of ca. 20°C but was noticeably enhanced (up to several weeks) at 4°C (2, 22, 31). Rollins and Colwell (26) showed that at 4°C C. jejuni could survive and remain at the viable but nonculturable stage for about 4 months. Oxygen consumption, catalase activity, ATP generation, chemotaxis, and protein synthesis were also observed at 4°C (8). Furthermore, Lee et al. (15) showed that C. jejuni remained viable on raw chicken skin fragments at Ϫ20 and Ϫ70°C for 14 and 56 days, respectively. In the same study, C. jejuni was also able to persist on the chicken skin fragments at 4°C (15).The ability of C. jejuni to survive refrigeration and fr...

Phages as Therapeutic Tools to Control Major Foodborne Pathogens: Campylobacter and Salmonella

“…The results showed that there was a reduction of 1 or 2 log 10 CFU on Campylobacter counts for skin stored at 4ºC or -20ºC, respectively. This reduction was lower than the value normally reported for Campylobacter cells stored at -20ºC (3 log 10 CFU) (Chan et al, 2001), which indicates that chicken skin may have had a protective effect. Phage φ2 at 10 7 PFU was added to chicken skin samples and was show to survive for ten days at 4ºC and at -20 ºC.…”

Survival of Campylobacter jejuni in mineral bottled water according to difference in mineral content: Application of the Weibull model

“…weeks (Chan et al, 2001) to more than 4 months (Rollins and Colwell, 1986;Cools et al, 2003). These differences were supposed to be attributed to strain variations, differences in experimental conditions or in the methodology of culturability assessment.…”

The RNase R from Campylobacter jejuni Has Unique Features and Is Involved in the First Steps of Infection

“…Although not able to grow below 30°C, C. jejuni is able to survive at refrigerated temperatures (40). It was already shown that the exoribonuclease polynucleotide phosphorylase was important for the survival at refrigerated temperatures (9).…”