Abstract
In this study, 1208 Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli isolates from humans and 400 isolates from chicken, collected in two separate periods over 12 years in The Netherlands, were typed using multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Statistical evidence was found for a shift of ST frequencies in human isolates over time. The human MLST data were also compared to published data from other countries to determine geographical variation. Because only MLST typed data from chicken, taken from the same time point and spatial location, were available in addition to the human data, MLST datasets for other Campylobacter reservoirs from selected countries were used. The selection was based on the degree of similarity of the human isolates between countries. The main aim of this study was to better understand the consequences of using non-local or non-recent MLST data for attributing domestically acquired human Campylobacter infections to specific sources of origin when applying the asymmetric island model for source attribution. In addition, a power-analysis was done to find the minimum number of source isolates needed to perform source attribution using an asymmetric island model. This study showed that using source data from other countries can have a significant biasing effect on the attribution results so it is important to carefully select data if the available local data lack in quality and/or quantity. Methods aimed at reducing this bias were proposed.
Highlights
Campylobacter is the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in the western world [1]
Chicken has been indicated as the major contributor to the disease burden of human campylobacteriosis in most countries where source attribution studies pertaining to those geographical regions have been performed [2,3,4,5]
We presented the results of a study in which Campylobacter isolates from Dutch human patients (n = 1208) and Dutch chicken (n = 400) collected between 2002–2003 and 2010–2011 were typed using multilocus sequence typing (MLST)
Summary
Campylobacter is the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in the western world [1]. Several source attribution studies have been performed to quantify the relative contributions of different sources of infection to human campylobacteriosis. The results of these studies can be used for identifying those sources of infection that are the most promising targets for Campylobacterreducing intervention efforts, as well as for measuring the impact of such efforts at varying levels of the transmission chain. Chicken has been indicated as the major contributor to the disease burden of human campylobacteriosis in most countries where source attribution studies pertaining to those geographical regions have been performed [2,3,4,5]. As new Campylobacter sequence types (STs) emerge and the relative occurrence of the established ones change continually, attribution results may vary over time [8]. The human exposure to Campylobacter may vary as well, for example because of international travel and trade, changes in food consumption patterns and eating habits, either over space or time
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