title: Potential sources of Campylobacter species in the homes of farmworkers in Zimbabwe.
abstract: Chicken faeces, houseflies, household stored drinking water, cooked or prepared foods and handwashings of people of all age groups and hands of children under 5 years old were examined as potential sources and transmission routes of Campylobacter species in a farmworker community. Campylobacter species were found to be common in chicken faeces collected from the homesteads of the farmworkers but were rarely isolated from houseflies or household stored drinking water. They were not isolated from foods and hands of people of all ages. A comparison of Campylobacter species isolated from humans and chickens showed Campylobacter jejuni to be more common than Campylobacter coli in human isolates while the two species were evenly distributed in chickens. Most of the C. jejuni isolates from humans and chickens belonged to biotype II and none belonged to biotype III. There was some similarity in some C. jejuni serotypes isolated from humans and chickens. Chickens were therefore found to be the main potential source of Campylobacter species in the homes of farmworkers.
authors.affiliation: Blair Research Laboratory, Ministry of Health, Causeway, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Simango
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rukure
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D017000:Campylobacter coli / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006225:Hand / Q000382:microbiology; D006793:Houseflies / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D014871:Water Microbiology; D015030:Zimbabwe