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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Food Safety and Enteric Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #216248
Title: EFFECTS OF UNIQUE COMMUNITIES OF INTESTINAL MICROBIOTA ON CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI COLONIZATION

Author
item RETTEDAL, ELIZABETH - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item SCUPHAM, ALEXANDRA

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/21/2007
Publication Date: 10/5/2007
Citation: Rettedal, E., Scupham, A.J. 2007. Effects of unique communities of intestinal microbiota on campylobacter jejuni colonization [abstract]. North Central Branch, American Society for Microbiology Meeting, 67th Annual Meeting. Paper No. Wed5.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Campylobacter jejuni has been identified as a major source of food-borne illness worldwide, with an annual estimate of 2 million cases in the United States alone. Most common source of infection is through consumption of poultry, whose animal populations are nearly ubiquitously contaminated with C. jejuni in the United States. With the continued spread of antibiotic resistance, new strategies, such as competitive exclusion (CE), are being explored as ways to prevent the spread of pathogens. The goal of this work is to examine CE as a possible preventative in the spread of C. jejuni. During this experiment, groups of day-old turkeys (n=4) were inoculated orally with cecal microbiota from an adult Campylobacter-free turkey. A single therapeutic dose of antibiotic (virginiamycin, enrofloxacin, neomycin, vancomycin) was used as treatment to select for unique microbial communities. Following community selection, all groups were challenged with C. jejuni and cecal plate counts were performed to quantify. The virginiamycin-treated group contained 1x10**9 C. jejuni cfu/g in the cecal contents while enrofloxacin, neomycin, and vancomycin groups had 6x10**6, 3x10**5, and < 10**3 cfu/g in their cecal contents. Untreated control birds had 2.5x10**7 cfu/g of C. jejuni in the ceca. Total microbial populations among groups were compared through use of ARISA (Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis) and will be specifically described by OFRG (Oligonucleotide Fingerprinting of rRNA Genes). Plate count quantification of C. jejuni will be confirmed via real-time PCR. Current results indicate that bacterial communities that both inhibit and enhance colonization of Campylobacter jejuni may be identified.