Competitive exclusion of heterologous Campylobacter spp. in chicks.
Chicken and human isolates of Campylobacter jejuni were used to provide oral challenge of day-old broiler chicks. The isolation ratio of the competing challenge strains was monitored and varied, depending upon the isolates used. A PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay of the flagellin gene (flaA) was used to discriminate between the chick-colonizing isolates. Our observations indicated that the selected C. jejuni colonizers dominated the niche provided by the chicken ceca. Chicken isolates from the flaA type 7 grouping generally had numerical superiority over the human isolates when they were administered in our 1-day-old chick model. Our results suggest that it is possible to use combinations of C. jejuni chicken isolates as a defined bacterial preparation for the competitive exclusion of human-pathogenic C. jejuni in poultry.
Chen
H C
HC
Poultry Microbiological Safety Research Unit, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Russell Research Center, Athens, Georgia 30605, USA.
Stern
N J
NJ
D000818:Animals; D000898:Antibiosis; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology*; D005408:Flagellin / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*
D005408:Flagellin