Water as a Reservoir for Campylobacter jejuni Infection in Cows Studied by Serotyping and Pulsed‐field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE)

Abstract

Ktb onefgnn and 2 tables (Rereiwedjrpnbbration Febtwary 5, 1997) SummaryThe occurrence of campylobacters was studied in the faecal samples of a dairy herd with about 20 animals and in the lake which was their source of drinking water during the grazing period from June to September. Of the total of 141 faecal samples studied, &21 Yo were found to be positive for C je/mi at various sampling times throughout the year. More cows were found to be campylobacter-positive in summer or in autumn after the grazing period than after the winter, when the animals were inside and their drinking water source was municipal chlorinated tap water. C jgnm was isolated from most of the lake water samples. Serotyping with heat stable antigens and molecular typing with PFGE using SarII-and Smal-digested DNA revealed that an animal that was permanently infected with Cj@mi sero-/PFGE-type PEN 0:6, 25/I/ND most probably contaminated the lake water in summer 1987. This was the only sero/PFGE-type isolated from the lake water in summer and autumn 1987 and in spring 1988. This sero/PFGE-type was also isolated from four other cows in autumn 1987, suggesting that lake water was the source of the infection. This study is first to employ molecular methods to assess the possible role of contaminated drinking water in the transmission of campylobacter infection within a dairy herd.

Global Epidemiology of Campylobacter Infection

“…Indeed, emptying and cleaning water troughs more regularly have been shown to reduce the risk of colonization of cattle by Campylobacter (334). Furthermore, it has been reported that cattle were more likely to test positive for Campylobacter following an outdoor grazing period in spring, when the water supply was lake water, than when they were confined indoors in winter, when their water supply was municipal chlorinated tap water (376). Other sources implicated in the contamination of outdoor water are wild bird feces and waste runoff from contaminated domesticated animals (377).…”

Prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni , Campylobacter lari , and Campylobacter coli in Different Ecological Guilds and Taxa of Migrating Birds

“…(23,25) and are frequently mentioned as possible vectors for transmission to poultry (2,15,40), cattle (22), and humans (35,38,44). Campylobacter jejuni, the main human pathogen of the genus, is now recognized as a leading cause of acute bacterial gastroenteritis in many parts of the world (3,18).…”

Bacterial Genetic Fingerprint: a Reliable Factor in the Study of the Epidemiology of Human Campylobacter Enteritis?

“…Improper cooking of chicken meat might lead to killing of superficially contaminating bacteria, while a strain in the inner parts of the food would be exposed to lower temperatures, thus being able to survive. Finally, those results could be explained by overestimation of poultry meat as a source of infection since simultaneous contamination with different strains has been demonstrated to a much lesser extent for other sources like raw milk and drinking water (7,11). However, this subject has not been studied in detail.…”