The colonization of broilers with Campylobacter - By W.J Snelling and J.S.G Dooley, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster and J.E. Moore, Northern Ireland Public Health Laboratory, Department of Bacteriology, Belfast City Hospital.

Abstract

Poultry is a major reservoir of Campylobacter jejuni, which is currently the leading cause of acute bacterial diarrhoea in western countries. This results in substantial accumulated economic loss due clinical costs and lost working hours.

In developed countries reinforcement of hygienic practices and consumer education have so far been inadequate to significantly decrease numbers of human cases of campylobacteriosis. The control of poultry associated infection in humans may also depend upon the control of Campylobacter colonization in broiler flocks.

However, sources of C. jejuni and the transmission routes through which broilers become colonized are not clearly defined. A better understanding of C. jejuni epidemiology is urgently needed. This review summarizes current theories on the epidemiology of C. jejuni broiler colonization.

Introduction

Each species of Campylobacter has a favoured reservoir, Campylobacter enteritis is regarded as a food-borne disease because the natural habitat of Campylobacter species is the intestines of both domestic animals, e.g. dogs (Workman et al., 2005), livestock, e.g. pigs and poultry and wild animals, e.g. migratory birds (Griffiths and Park, 1990; Thomas et al., 1999a).

C. jejuni is currently the leading cause of human foodborne gastroenteritis in developed countries and infection and can be followed by severe clinical complications, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) (Boyd et al., 2005). Most campylobacteriosis cases are sporadic and a number of foods have been implicated as risk factors for sporadic Campylobacter infection, including barbecued meat, raw milk, bird pecked milk, bottled mineral water and poultry (ACMSF, 2004).

Evidence for sporadic sources of human Campylobacter infections is mostly indirect (Corry and Atabay, 2001). Several studies have demonstrated the consumption of undercooked poultry, to be associated with human illness (Studahl and Andersson 2000), and it has been suggested that between 20% and 40% of sporadic disease might be due to the consumption of chicken (ACMSF, 2004).

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The study is published in World's Poultry Science Journal, Vol. 61, December 2005 edition

Source: World's Poultry Science Journal - December 2005