Strain-specific differences in survival of Campylobacter spp. in naturally contaminated turkey feces and water.

Strain-specific differences in survival of Campylobacter spp. in naturally contaminated turkey feces and water. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2019 Sep 13;: Authors: Good L, Miller WG, Niedermeyer J, Osborne J, Siletzky RM, Carver D, Kathariou S Abstract Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli are leading causes of human foodborne illness with poultry as a major vehicle. Turkeys are frequently colonized with Campylobacter but little is known about Campylobacter survival in turkey feces, even though fecal droppings are major vehicles for Campylobacter within-flock transmission as well as for environmental dissemination. Our objective was to examine survival of Campylobacter, including different strains, in freshly-excreted feces from naturally-colonized commercial turkey flocks and in suspensions of turkey feces in water from the turkey house. Fecal and water suspensions were stored at 4°C and Campylobacter populations were enumerated on selective media at 48-h intervals. C. jejuni and C. coli isolates were characterized for resistance to a panel of antibiotics and a subset was subtyped by multilocus sequence typing. Campylobacter was recovered from feces and water for up to 16 days. Analysis of 548 isolates (218 C. jejuni and 330 C. coli) revealed that C. jejuni survived longer than C. coli in feces (p = 0.0005), while the reverse was observed in water (p < 0.0001). Strain-specific differences in survival were noted. Multidrug-resistant C. jej...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Appl Environ Microbiol Source Type: research