Abstract
In many industrialized countries, the incidence of campylobacteriosis exceeds that of salmonellosis. Campylobacter bacteria are transmitted to humans mainly in food, especially poultry meat products. Total prevention of Campylobacter colonization in broiler flocks is the best way to reduce (or eliminate) the contamination of poultry products. The aim of this study was to establish the sources and routes of contamination of broilers at the farm level. Molecular typing methods (DNA macrorestriction pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and analysis of gene polymorphism by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism) were used to characterize isolates collected from seven broiler farms. The relative genomic diversity of Campylobacter coli and Campylobacter jejuni was determined. Analysis of the similarity among 116 defined genotypes was used to determine clusters within the two species. Furthermore, evidence of recombination suggested that there were genomic rearrangements within the Campylobacter populations. Recovery of related clusters from different broiler farms showed that some Campylobacter strains might be specifically adapted to poultry. Analysis of the Campylobacter cluster distribution on three broiler farms showed that soil in the area around the poultry house was a potential source of Campylobacter contamination. The broilers were infected by Campylobacter spp. between days 15 and 36 during rearing, and the type of contamination changed during the rearing period. A study of the effect of sanitary barriers showed that the chickens stayed Campylobacter spp. free until they had access to the open area. They were then rapidly colonized by the Campylobacter strains isolated from the soil.