The effect of different isolation protocols on detection and molecular characterization of Campylobacter from poultry
Investigation article published in Letters in Applied Microbiology
November 1st, 2013
We determined whether different methods to isolate Campylobacter (including the ISO standard 10272:2006-1) affected the genotypes detectable from poultry, at three points during slaughter: caecal content, neck skin and meat. Carcasses from 28 independent flocks were thus sampled (Subset A). In addition, ten neck skin samples from four flocks, ten caecal samples from ten different flocks and ten unrelated meat samples obtained from local supermarkets were collected (Subset B). Campylobacter was isolated using eight different protocols: with and without enrichment using Bolton broth, Preston broth or Campyfood broth (CFB), followed by culture on either modified Charcoal Cefoperazone Desoxycholate Agar (mCCDA) or Campyfood agar (CFA). All obtained isolates were genotyped for flaA-SVR and over half of the isolates were also typed by MLST. The strain richness, as a measure of number of detected fla-genotypes, obtained from Subset A neck skin and caecal samples was higher than that of meat samples. In half of the cases, within a flock at least one identical fla-genotype was obtained at all three slaughter stages, suggestive of autologous contamination of carcasses. Enrichment reduced the observed richness of isolates, while CFA plates increased richness compared to mCCDA plates, irrespective of inclusion of an enrichment step. Since the isolation protocol used influences both the yield and the fla-genotype richness obtained from poultry, this variable should be taken into account when different studies are being compared
Ugarte-Ruiz M., Wassenaar TM., Gomez S., Porrero MC., Navarro-Gonzalez N. and Dominguez L..
 | Servicio de Zoonosis de Transmisión Alimentaria y Resistencia a Antimicrobianos (ZTA). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM). |
| Molecular Microbiology and Genomics Consultants. | |
| Servicio de Ecopatología de Fauna Salvaje (SEFaS). Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). | |
