title: Occurrence of viable Brachyspira spp. on carcasses of spent laying hens from supermarkets.
abstract: Brachyspira spp. are frequent inhabitants of the chicken's intestine and some have been associated with enteric disease in humans. We studied contamination with Brachyspira spp. of carcasses of spent laying hens as a possible source of infections for humans and animals that may eat this meat. Eleven batches of hen carcasses, for a total of 110 carcasses, were bought in Belgian supermarkets during 2009-2010. Carcass rinse samples were examined for the presence of Brachyspira. Brachyspira spp. were cultured from some carcass in all batches. Besides presumably non-pathogenic species such as Brachyspira murdochii and Brachyspira innocens, the poultry pathogen Brachyspira intermedia and the poultry and suspected human pathogen Brachyspira pilosicoli were identified in 7/11 and 1/11 carcass batches, respectively, at high numbers, as shown using quantitative polymerase chain reactions. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) demonstrated the presence of 2 and 13 MLST types of B. pilosicoli and B. intermedia, respectively, with all strains belonging to novel MLST types. The findings show that carcasses of spent laying hens are commonly contaminated with high numbers of Brachyspira spp., including the suspected zoonotic agent B. pilosicoli.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Bacteriology, and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, B9820 Merelbeke, Belgium. marc.verlinden@ugent.be
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verlinden
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pasmans
authors.forename: An
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Garmyn
authors.forename: Lieven
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Zutter
authors.forename: Freddy
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Haesebrouck
authors.forename: An
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D017400:Brachyspira / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis* / Q000191:economics; D008460:Meat / Q000191:economics / Q000382:microbiology*; D050296:Microbial Viability; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing