Abstract
Campylobacter and antimicrobial-resistant Campylobacter are frequently isolated from broiler chickens worldwide. In Canada, campylobacteriosis is the third leading cause of enteric disease and the regional emergence of ciprofloxacin-resistant Campylobacter in broiler chickens has raised a public health concern. This study aimed to identify, critically appraise, and synthesize literature on sources of Campylobacter in broilers at the farm level using systematic review methodology. Literature searches were conducted in January 2012 and included electronic searches in four bibliographic databases. Relevant studies in French or English (n = 95) conducted worldwide in any year and all study designs were included. Risk of Bias and GRADE criteria endorsed by the Cochrane collaboration was used to assess the internal validity of the study and overall confidence in the meta-analysis. The categories for on-farm sources were: broiler breeders/vertical transfer (number of studies = 32), animals (n = 57), humans (n = 26), environment (n = 54), and water (n = 63). Only three studies examined the antimicrobial resistance profiles of Campylobacter from these on-farm sources. Subgroups of data by source and outcome were analyzed using random effect meta-analysis. The highest risk for contaminating a new flock appears to be a contaminated barn environment due to insufficient cleaning and disinfection, insufficient downtime, and the presence of an adjacent broiler flock. Effective biosecurity enhancements from physical barriers to restricting human movement on the farm are recommended for consideration to enhance local on-farm food safety programs. Improved sampling procedures and standardized laboratory testing are needed for comparability across studies. Knowledge gaps that should be addressed include farm-level drug use and antimicrobial resistance information, further evaluation of the potential for vertical transfer, and improved genotyping methods to strengthen our understanding of Campylobacter epidemiology in broilers at the farm-level. This systematic review emphasizes the importance of improved industry-level and on-farm risk management strategies to reduce pre-harvest Campylobacter in broilers.
Highlights
Molecular epidemiologic studies have identified poultry as the most important source of human campylobacteriosis in industrialized countries [1,2,3]
Many risk factors for broiler colonisation with Campylobacter and the emergence of antimicrobial resistant Campylobacter have been identified in the literature: environment, livestock, pests, wildlife, equipment and farm workers, catching crews, antimicrobial use (AMU) and to a lesser extent vertical/pseudovertical transfer [12,13,14,15]
Out of 2530 abstracts excluded through RS1, 2488 were not relevant to sources of Campylobacter spp. in broiler chickens, one was considered relevant but in a foreign language and 41 were considered relevant literature reviews or commentaries
Summary
Molecular epidemiologic studies have identified poultry as the most important source of human campylobacteriosis in industrialized countries [1,2,3]. Frequent isolation of Campylobacter by surveillance programs and primary research surveys in Canada and around the world have highlighted chicken as an important source of Campylobacter [5,6,7,8,9]. Studies investigating on-farm sources and risk factors in Canadian broiler flocks are limited, this systematic review (SR) examines the global evidence for sources and risk factors of Campylobacter and antimicrobial resistant-Campylobacter in broilers at the farmlevel (excluding processing) to determine prevalence estimates and characterise epidemiological linkages described in available primary research
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