Determination of toxicity of Campylobacter jejuni isolated from humans and from poultry carcasses acquired at various stages of production.
OBJECTIVE
The research focused on the determination of the toxicity variation associated with Campylobacter jejuni isolated from humans and chickens.


RESULTS
Campylobacter jejuni isolates were obtained from chicken carcasses and from humans exhibiting symptoms of campylobacteriosis. Using HeLa cells as the in vitro model, toxicity was determined for each isolate. The mean toxicity level of the chicken isolates was significantly lower than that of the human isolates (P < 0.001). There was a wide range of toxicity in C. jejuni isolated from chickens and the percentage of isolates exhibiting low toxicity remaining relatively constant. All C. jejuni isolates from humans possessed either medium or high levels of toxicity.


CONCLUSIONS
All wildtype C. jejuni isolates obtained from poultry carcasses may not be equally important as a human foodborne pathogen.


CONCLUSIONS
Campylobacter jejuni remains a primary foodborne pathogen and increased efforts are needed to determine the impact of wildtype isolates in causing human illness. The present research indicates that all isolates may not be equally important in regards to disease potential. The information found should be included in efforts to develop C. jejuni detection, control and infection modelling.
Gilbert
C
C
Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, LA 71209, USA. cgilbert@ulm.edu
Slavik
M
M
D000818:Animals; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000032:analysis; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D016923:Cell Death; D002645:Chickens; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003470:Culture Media; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*
D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D003470:Culture Media