title: Arcobacter butzleri, Arcobacter cryaerophilus, and Arcobacter skirrowii Circulation in a Dairy Farm and Sources of Milk Contamination.
abstract: Even though dairy cows are known carriers of Arcobacter species and raw or minimally processed foods are recognized as the main sources of human Arcobacter infections in industrialized countries, data on Arcobacter excretion patterns in cows and in milk are scant. This study aimed to identify potentially pathogenic Arcobacter species in a dairy herd and to investigate the routes of Arcobacter transmission among animals and the potential sources of cattle infection and milk contamination. A strategy of sampling the same 50 dairy animals, feed, water, and milk every month for a 10-month period, as well as the sampling of quarter milk, animal teats, the milking environment, and animals living on the farm (pigeons and cats), was used to evaluate, by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), the characteristic patterns in animals, their living environment, and the raw milk they produced. Of the 463 samples collected, 105 (22.6%) were positive for Arcobacter spp. by culture examination. All the matrices except quarter milk and pigeon gut samples were positive, with prevalences ranging from 15 to 83% depending on the sample. Only three Arcobacter species, Arcobacter cryaerophilus (54.2%), A. butzleri (34.2%), and A. skirrowii (32.3%), were detected. PFGE analysis of 370 isolates from positive samples provided strong evidence of Arcobacter circulation in the herd: cattle likely acquire the microorganisms by orofecal transmission, either by direct contact or from the environment, or both. Water appears to be a major source of animal infection. Raw milk produced by the farm and collected from a bulk tank was frequently contaminated (80%) by A. butzleri; our PFGE findings excluded primary contamination of milk, whereas teats and milking machine surfaces could be sources of Arcobacter milk contamination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giacometti
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lucchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonietta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Francesco
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delogu
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Ester
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Grilli
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Guarniero
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stancampiano
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Manfreda
authors.affiliation: Experimental Institute for Zooprophylaxis in Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Merialdi
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bologna, Italy andrea.serraino@unibo.it.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Serraino
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000382:microbiology*; D020640:Arcobacter / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002353:Carrier State / Q000382:microbiology*; D002415:Cats; D002417:Cattle; D010856:Columbidae; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005506:Food Contamination; D016905:Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology*; D058889:Molecular Typing