Campylobacter sp in eggs from cloacal swab positive breeder hens

Abstract

Campylobacter sp is a microaerophilic, thermotolerating Gram negative bacterium, known to be one of the main causes of food-borne human infections. Among the foods that carry these microorganisms, the chicken is outstanding. In Brazil, a large chicken exporting country, few researches are conducted about their prevalence in breeder hens and the transmission through eggs. The aim of this research was to verify the presence of Campylobacter sp in the shells and within the eggs from positive cloacal swab breeder hens. Microbiological analyses were made on cloacal swabs of 140 weighed breeder hens. The positive breeder hens were set aside and in a total of 244 of their eggs, Campylobacter sp was present in macerated shells and yolk contents during 7 weeks. Out of the 140 researched breeder hens, 25 (17.8%) were positive from cloacal swabs, however the eggs were not positive. The physiological characteristics of the birds, their eggs and Campylobacter sp favor the bacterium entering and surviving in the eggs, but in this study, no positive result was found in macerated shells or in the yolks, indicating that vertical transmission is probably an unusual event.

Isolation and molecular characterization of Campylobacter jejuni from chicken and human stool samples in Egypt

“…In our study, the cloacal swabs from six laying hens yielded C. jejuni at a rate of 17.75%. This finding was in close agreement with the finding (17.8%) of Fonseca et al (2006). Lower isolation levels of C. jejuni (8%&7%) have been recorded by Chatur (2014) and Akosua et al (2017) respectively.…”

“…This could be due to the poor ability of C. jejuni to penetrate the egg albumin or yolk, while it was confined to the inner egg membranes (Neill et al, 1985). The result obtained from egg content samples was comparable with that of Fonseca et al (2006), Jones et al (2012) and Ge et al (2016), whereas, one isolate (4.28%) of C. jejuni was retrieved from egg samples as reported by Shane et al (1986). The eggshell sample results were consistent with those (16.66%) reported by Modirrousta et al (2016).…”

Comparison of transport crates contamination with Campylobacter spp. before and after the cleaning and disinfection procedure in broiler slaughterhouses

“…Campylobacter spp. colonies were examined under a phase-contrast microscope (Olympus B201 optical microscope; Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) to monitor its typical movement and morphology ( Fonseca et al, 2006 ). Colonies were characterized based on their ability to hydrolyze hippurate and indoxyl acetate, and catalase reaction ( Public Health England, 2018 ).…”

Scientific Opinion on the public health risks of table eggs due to deterioration and development of pathogens

“…Campylobacter is most frequently isolated from caeca but is also able to colonize other organs and tissues such as the ovarian follicles, the reproductive tract, the spleen and the liver-gallbladder (Cox et al, 2009). Although the ability of Campylobacter to colonize reproductive tracts has been reported, there is no evidence for vertical transmission of the pathogen (Sahin et al, 2003;Callicott et al, 2006;Fonseca et al, 2006). Eggshell contamination by Campylobacter has not been widely investigated.…”