Relation between broiler and human Campylobacter jejuni strains isolated in Belgium from 2011 to 2013.

Abstract

This study inquires the relationship between Campylobacter jejuni isolated from broiler meat carcasses (n=97) and human clinical samples (n=72) in Belgium, from 2011 to 2013. The evaluation of the relation was based on the characteristics determined using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) alone and combined with flagellin gene A restriction fragment length polymorphism (flaA-RFLP) typing, antibiotic microbiological resistance profiling (AMRp), lipooligosaccharide class typing or virulence gene profiling (Vp). Clusters containing both human and broiler meat strains were more common when MLST was used alone, followed by MLST/flaA-RFLP and then by MLST/AMRp. More logical chronologically relations broiler-human were obtained for MLST/flaA-RFLP, then for MLST, and finally for MLST/AMRp: i.e. the isolates would first be detected in the broiler meat and at the same time or later in humans. In several cases, the C. jejuni strains isolated from the consumed broiler meat and from the campylobacteriosis case had the same profile, according to the used typing methods. The circulating Campylobacter strains appear to have remained the same from 2011 till 2013 in Belgium. This study corroborates previously published data from Belgium that suggest a strong correlation between C. jejuni strains isolated from broiler meat and from campylobacteriosis patients.