title: Wild bird-associated Campylobacter jejuni isolates are a consistent source of human disease, in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
abstract: The contribution of wild birds as a source of human campylobacteriosis was investigated in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom (UK) over a 10 year period. The probable origin of human Campylobacter jejuni genotypes, as described by multilocus sequence typing, was estimated by comparison with reference populations of isolates from farm animals and five wild bird families, using the STRUCTURE algorithm. Wild bird-attributed isolates accounted for between 476 (2.1%) and 543 (3.5%) cases annually. This proportion did not vary significantly by study year (P = 0.934) but varied seasonally, with wild bird-attributed genotypes comprising a greater proportion of isolates during warmer compared with cooler months (P = 0.003). The highest proportion of wild bird-attributed illness occurred in August (P < 0.001), with a significantly lower proportion in November (P = 0.018). Among genotypes attributed to specific groups of wild birds, seasonality was most apparent for Turdidae-attributed isolates, which were absent during cooler, winter months. This study is consistent with some wild bird species representing a persistent source of campylobacteriosis, and contributing a distinctive seasonal pattern to disease burden. If Oxfordshire is representative of the UK as a whole in this respect, these data suggest that the national burden of wild bird-attributed isolates could be in the order of 10,000 annually.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Alison J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Cody
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.|Health Protection Agency, London, UK.|Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.|NIHR Health Protections Research Unit in Gastrointestinal Infections, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Noel D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Bray
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Helen M L
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Wimalarathna
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Frances M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Colles
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Melissa J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Jansen van Rensburg
authors.affiliation: Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Oxford University, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Kate E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Dingle
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Evolution in Microbial Model Systems, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Waldenström
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.|NIHR Health Protections Research Unit in Gastrointestinal Infections, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Martin C J
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Maiden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000382:microbiology*; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D012621:Seasons; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology