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Campylobacter immunity and coinfection following a large outbreak in a farming community.

ABSTRACT: An outbreak of campylobacteriosis affected approximately one-half of 165 people attending an annual farmers' dance in Montrose, Scotland, in November 2005. Epidemiological investigations, including a cohort study (n = 164), identified chicken liver paté as the most likely vehicle of infection. Paté preparation involved deliberate undercooking of chicken livers by flash-frying, followed by mechanical homogenization. Typing of 32 Campylobacter strains (isolated from submitted stools) by multilocus sequence typing identified four distinct clades of Campylobacter jejuni. There was good agreement when isolates were typed by Penner serotyping, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and flaA short variable region sequencing but poorer agreement with phage and antibiotic susceptibility testing. At least three attendees were coinfected with two Campylobacter strains each. The outbreak was probably due to several livers contributing Campylobacter strains that survived undercooking and were dispersed throughout the paté. The study highlights improper culinary procedures as a potential human health risk and provides a striking counterexample to the "dominant outbreak strain" view of point source outbreaks of food-borne infections. It also demonstrates that previous exposure to biologically plausible sources of Campylobacter may confer protection against subsequent infection.

SUBMITTER: Forbes KJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2620832 | biostudies-other | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Campylobacter immunity and coinfection following a large outbreak in a farming community.

Forbes K J KJ Gormley F J FJ Dallas J F JF Labovitiadi O O MacRae M M Owen R J RJ Richardson J J Strachan N J C NJ Cowden J M JM Ogden I D ID McGuigan C C CC

Journal of clinical microbiology 20081112 1

An outbreak of campylobacteriosis affected approximately one-half of 165 people attending an annual farmers' dance in Montrose, Scotland, in November 2005. Epidemiological investigations, including a cohort study (n = 164), identified chicken liver paté as the most likely vehicle of infection. Paté preparation involved deliberate undercooking of chicken livers by flash-frying, followed by mechanical homogenization. Typing of 32 Campylobacter strains (isolated from submitted stools) by multilocus ...[more]

PMID: 19005146

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Project description:A multi-stage option to address food-safety can be produced by a clearer understanding of Campylobacter's persistence through the broiler production chain, its environmental niche and its interaction with bacteriophages. This study addressed Campylobacter levels, species, genotype, bacteriophage composition/ levels in caeca, litter, soil and carcasses across commercial broiler farming practices to inform on-farm management, including interventions. Broilers were sequentially collected as per company slaughter schedules over two-years from 17 farms, which represented four commercially adopted farming practices, prior to the final bird removal (days 39-53). The practices were conventional full clean-out, conventional litter re-use, free-range-full cleanout and free-range-litter re-use. Caeca, litter and soil collected on-farm, and representative carcases collected at the processing plant, were tested for Campylobacter levels, species dominance and Campylobacter bacteriophages. General community profiling via denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of the flaA gene was used to establish the population relationships between various farming practices on representative Campylobacter isolates. The farming practice choices did not influence the high caeca Campylobacter levels (log 7.5 to log 8.5 CFU/g), the carcass levels (log 2.5 to log 3.2 CFU/carcass), the C. jejuni/C. coli dominance and the on-farm bacteriophage presence/levels. A principal coordinate analysis of the flaA distribution for farm and litter practices showed strong separation but no obvious farming practice related grouping of Campylobacter. Bacteriophages originated from select farms, were not practice-dependent, and were detected in the environment (litter) only if present in the birds (caeca). This multifaceted study showed no influence of farming practices on on-farm Campylobacter dynamics. The significance of this study means that a unified on-farm risk-management could be adopted irrespective of commercial practice choices to collectively address caeca Campylobacter levels, as well as the potential to include Campylobacter bacteriophage biocontrol. The impact of this study means that there are no constraints in re-using bedding or adopting free-range farming, thus contributing to environmentally sustainable (re-use) and emerging (free-range) broiler farming choices.

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Campylobacter immunity and coinfection following a large outbreak in a farming community.

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Campylobacter immunity and coinfection following a large outbreak in a farming community.

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