Isolation of Thermophilic Campylobacter Species in Chicken Meat and in Fecal Samples Taken from Poultry Farms in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia
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Date
2011-06-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
A cross-sectional study was conducted from October, ยท2010 to May, 2011 on apparently healthy
broiler chickens (n=263) to assess the extent of colonization and the subsequent contamination of
chicken carcass with thermophlic Campylobacter species in Debre Zeit. The study involved six
randomly selected broiler farms (2 large and 4 small scale farms) situated in Debre Zeit, where
broilers are raised and slaughtered. From the total of 526 fecal and carcass swab samples,
thermophilic Campylobacler species were isolated in 284 (54%) samples. Thermophilic
Campylobacter spp. were isolated from 149 (56.65%) of the 263 fecal swab samples investigated
from six poultry fanns. Among the 149 viable isolates, 141 (94.63%) were identified as C.jejuni
while only 8 (5.37%) were identified as C. coli. On the other hand, 135 (51.33%) of the carcass
swab samples were found positive for thermophilic Campylobacter spp. 133 (89.26%) of these
isolates were identified as C. jejuni and only 2 (1.34%) were isolates of C. coli. There were
statistically significant differences in the isolation rates of Campylobacter species among large
and small production scale, and amongst the farms studied. However, there were no statistically
significant differences in the isolation rate of Campylobacter species between the sexes and
between the types of sample examined. The results of this study indicate that thermophilic
campylobacters are very frequent among poultry in Ethiopia, suggesting possible risks of
infection to people through the consumption of contaminated poultry products or through contact
with infected poultry
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Keywords
Campylobacler, thermophilic, broiler, prevalence, carcass, feces, isolation, Debre Zeit