Abstract

Campylobacter spp. are a major cause of bacterial foodborne diarrhea worldwide. While thermophilic Campylobacter species asymptomatically colonize the intestines of chickens, most human infections in industrial countries have been attributed to consumption of chicken meat or cross-contaminated products. Bacteriophages (phages) are natural predators of bacteria and their use at different stages of the food production chain has been shown to reduce the public health burden of human campylobacteriosis. However, regarding regulatory issues, the use of lytic phages in food is still under discussion and evaluation. This study aims to identify lytic phages suitable for reducing Campylobacter bacteria along the food production chain. Therefore, four of 19 recently recovered phages were further characterized in detail for their lytic efficacy against different Campylobacter field strains and their suitability under food production settings at different temperatures and pH values. Based on the results of this study, the phages vB_CjM-LmqsCP1-4 and vB_CjM-LmqsCP1-5 appear to be promising candidates for the reduction of Campylobacter jejuni in food production settings.

Highlights

  • Campylobacteriosis is the most frequently reported foodborne bacterial gastroenteritis in the European Union (EU) since 2005 (European Food Safety Authority [EFSA] and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control [ECDC], 2021), but represents an important zoonosis worldwide (Skarp et al, 2016)

  • Nineteen C. jejuni-specific bacteriophages from chicken samples were isolated in this study

  • The host range of all isolated phages was evaluated by testing them against a panel of wellcharacterized C. jejuni and C. coli isolates, comprising current field strains and using a highly reliable spot test format

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Summary

Introduction

Campylobacteriosis is the most frequently reported foodborne bacterial gastroenteritis in the European Union (EU) since 2005 (European Food Safety Authority [EFSA] and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control [ECDC], 2021), but represents an important zoonosis worldwide (Skarp et al, 2016). For 47.2% of the human cases, further information on the travel status or the country of infection was unknown (European Food Safety Authority [EFSA] and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control [ECDC], 2021). Consumption of broiler meat is considered to be the most common cause for human infections (European Food Safety Authority [EFSA], 2010). Campylobacter (C.) jejuni and C. coli are the most frequent species, while C. lari, C. fetus and C. upsaliensis have been detected less frequently in campylobacteriosis cases (European Food Safety Authority [EFSA] and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control [ECDC], 2021). Severe long-term sequelae like the GuillainBarré syndrome, reactive arthritis, and erythema nodosum can occur in rare cases subsequent to the infection (Nachamkin, 2002; Moore et al, 2005; Skarp et al, 2016)

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