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Title: RECOVERY OF CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI FROM SEGMENTS OF THE REPRODUCTIVE TRACT OF BROILER BREEDER HENS

Author
item Buhr, Richard - Jeff
item Cox Jr, Nelson
item Stern, Norman
item WILSON, J

Submitted to: Southern Poultry Science Society Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/9/2000
Publication Date: 8/18/2000
Citation: BUHR, R.J., COX JR, N.A., STERN, N.J., WILSON, J.L. RECOVERY OF CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI FROM SEGMENTS OF THE REPRODUCTIVE TRACT OF BROILER BREEDER HENS. SOUTHERN POULTRY SCIENCE SOCIETY MEETING ABSTRACT. 2000.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Two trials were conducted to determine the presence of Campylobacter jejuni within segments of the reproductive tract of 66 wk old broiler breeder hens. In the first trial, after stunning, bleeding, scalding, and defeathering, the reproductive tracts were aseptically excised from fifteen hens, five from each of three adjacent floor pens that were feces-positive for Campylobacter. The reproductive tract segments (infundibulum, magnum, isthmus and shell gland, vagina, and cloaca) were pooled by pen. In a second trial, one week later, a total of ten individual hens were sampled from the three pens; the reproductive tract was divided into the following segments: magnum, isthmus, shell gland, vagina, and cloaca. Samples were placed into sterile plastic bags and suspended 1:3 (w/v) in Bolton's enrichment broth. Samples were stomached for 1 min and serial dilutions were plated (0.1 mL) on to Campy-Cefex plates. The plates were incubated at 42 C for 24 h in a microaerobic environment. In Trial 1, the pooled reproductive tract segments for hens from Pen A were Campylobacter-positive for the shell gland, vagina, and cloaca; hens from Pen B were positive for the cloaca only; and hens from Pen C were positive for the magnum and cloaca. In the second trial, nine of ten cloaca samples were Campylobacter-positive and only Hen 3 was negative. Hen 6 was Campylobacter-positive in both the shell gland and vagina. Hen 6 was the only hen lacking an egg within the reproductive tract at the time of sample collection. Campylobacter colonization of the hens' reproductive tract may enable vertical transmission of Campylobacter from the hen to the chick.