Carriage of Campylobacter by sows and spread to fattening pigs in farrow-to-finish farms

Abstract

We carried out a one-year study, in 2008, at 53 farrow-to-finish farms in Brittany, France, to determine the proportion of sows excreting Campylobacter and to determine whether Campylobacter excretion by fattening pigs on these farms was related to transmission from sows. We also determine the genotypes of the Campylobacter isolates. Ten samples of feces from sows were collected from randomly selected sites (maternity, service and gestation areas) on the 53 farrow-to-finish farms. Sampling was also carried out during the fattening stage (four samples per farm) on 27 of the 53 farms. Feces were 10 fold diluted and direct streaking was done on Karmali plate. Plates were then placed at 37°C during 48h in microaerobic atmosphere. Campylobacter isolates were identified by PCR and typed by PFGE. Campylobacter was detected in 25.1% of the 530 samples from sows, and 69.8% of the 53 pig farms had at least one positive sample (of 10 taken). Campylobacter was detected in 15.4% of the 168 samples from fattening pigs and 62.9% of the 27 farms studied had at least one positive sample (of 4 taken). All the Campylobacter isolates belonged to the C. coli species. They displayed a very high level of genetic diversity, also inside farms and few genotypes were common to several farms. Only few genotypes were common to both fattening pigs and sows. However, samples from fattening pigs at which Campylobacter had been detected in feces from sows were more likely to have a positive feces sample than those from farms at which the bacterium had not been detected in feces from sows. This study provided recent valuable information on the occurrence of Campylobacter in farrow-to-finish farms and on its spread between sows and fattening pigs.