A Phenotypic Analysis of Campylobacter jejuni Isolated from Supermarket Chickens and from Humans

No Thumbnail Available

Date

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Campylobacter jejuni infection is the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in humans in the developed world. Chickens harbour large numbers of Campylobacter in their gastrointestinal tract and as a result poultry meat is the main source of infection. In 2010 the European Food Safety Authority reported that 98% of Irish poultry meat was contaminated with C. jejuni and in 2019 the World Health Organization reported that in Europe almost five million people fell ill from Campylobacteriosis. The organism is known to display high levels of genotypic and phenotypic diversity but little is known about the role of this diversity in the survival of this pathogen in the poultry meat which is the primary source of human infection by this pathogen. The overall aim of this study was to characterise freshly isolates of C. jejuni from chickens purchased in different local supermarkets and to compare these isolates with clinical isolates from patients in Ireland. Examination of these two key cohorts of isolates, isolated from two very different environments should reveal the role environmental conditions play in determining the phenotypic traits of C. jejuni strains. Results revealed that some individual supermarket chickens harboured multiple distinct isolates of C. jejuni as evidenced by different growth levels, antigenic variation of whole cell proteins, differences in the protein profiles of secreted proteins and variation in the level of antibiotic resistance. Generally, fresh supermarket isolates and clinical isolates were more motile than standard laboratory strains suggesting motility is important for survival and infection. On the other hand, supermarkets isolates grew better at 37ºC than the clinical strains suggesting that clinical isolates may have adapted to grow at a slower rate to increase survival in the hostile environment of the human gut. There was also a wide degree of variation in the antibiotic resistance profiles between supermarket and clinical isolates. The supermarket isolates were significantly more likely to be resistant to the fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin than the clinical isolates. Finally, supermarket isolates showed a significant increase in the levels of biofilm formation when grown under aerobic conditions. In conclusion, the phenotypic differences between freshly isolated and clinical isolates suggests strains from supermarket poultry products may contain novel factors which could play an important role in the survival or virulence of this important human pathogen.

Description

Keywords

Citation

Collections

Endorsement

Review

Supplemented By

Referenced By

Copyright owned by the Saudi Digital Library (SDL) © 2025