Abstract
A free-range broiler breeder flock was studied in order to determine the natural patterns of Campylobacter colonization over a period of 63 weeks. Campylobacter sequence types (STs) were not mutually exclusive and on average colonized only 17.7% of the birds tested at any time. Campylobacter STs typically reached a peak in prevalence upon initial detection in the flock before tailing off, although the ST and antigenic flaA short variable region in combination were stable over a number of months. There was evidence that, with a couple of exceptions, the ecology of C. jejuni and C. coli differed, with the latter forming a more stable population. Despite being free range, no newly colonizing STs were detected over a 6-week period in autumn and a 10-week period in winter, towards the end of the study. There was limited evidence that those STs identified among broiler chicken flocks on the same farm site were likely to colonize the breeder flock earlier (R2 0.16, P 0.01). These results suggest that there is natural control of Campylobacter dynamics within a flock which could potentially be exploited in designing new intervention strategies, and that the two different species should perhaps be considered separately.
Highlights
Contaminated chicken meat has been identified as a major source of human campylobacteriosis using caseReceived 19 August, 2013; revised 28 October, 2013; accepted 5November, 2013. *For correspondence
A more detailed understanding of the ecology of Campylobacter among commercial flocks is needed to aid the design of more effective intervention methods; broiler chickens are slaughtered at an immature age giving little scope to study interactions of the organism and host over time
All but six Campylobacter sequence types (STs) isolated from the broiler breeder flock during the study had previously been isolated and deposited on the PubMLST database; the majority associated with chicken and human disease sources
Summary
Contaminated chicken meat has been identified as a major source of human campylobacteriosis using caseReceived 19 August, 2013; revised 28 October, 2013; accepted 5November, 2013. *For correspondence. Reducing the prevalence of Campylobacter among broiler flocks remains a high priority among policy makers. Campylobacter from housed flocks, but they commonly break down, and an average of 71.2% of broiler flocks in the European Union are positive at slaughter (Newell and Fearnley, 2003; EFSA, 2010). A more detailed understanding of the ecology of Campylobacter among commercial flocks is needed to aid the design of more effective intervention methods; broiler chickens are slaughtered at an immature age giving little scope to study interactions of the organism and host over time. Colonized flocks usually remain positive until slaughter, where high levels of the organism in intestinal contents exacerbate contamination of the meat product during automated processing (Jacobs-Reitsma et al, 1994; Johnsen et al, 2006)
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