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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #350022
Research Project: Production and Processing Intervention Strategies for Poultry Associated Foodborne Pathogens

Location: Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit

Title: Persistence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in the ceca, spleen and liver/gallbladder of inoculated broilers

Author
item Cox Jr, Nelson
item Cosby, Douglas
item MCLENDON, BEVERLY - University Of Georgia
item WILSON, JEANNA - University Of Georgia
item Berrang, Mark
item Hinton Jr, Arthur

Submitted to: International Journal of Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/26/2018
Publication Date: 7/15/2018
Citation: Cox Jr, N.A., Cosby, D.E., McLendon, B.L., Wilson, J.L., Berrang, M.E., Hinton Jr, A. 2018. Persistence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in the ceca, spleen and liver/gallbladder of inoculated broilers. International Journal of Poultry Science. 17(8):374-377.

Interpretive Summary: Campylobacter and Salmonella introduced through various body openings (in this case, oral gavage) of a young broiler chick translocate to an assortment of other organs. In order to study whether these translocated bacteria re-seed the intestinal and reproductive traits later in life of the broiler breeder, it is important to know the variation in their persistence with different flooring material, age and does Campylobacter and Salmonella behave differently. This study is the first stage of the overall process of researching this phenomenon.

Technical Abstract: Salmonella and Campylobacter are two leading causes of bacterial induced diarrheal disease in the United States and the world. Poultry is one of the major vehicles transmitting these microorganisms to humans. Several body openings of the newly hatched chick may be exposed to these microorganisms in the hatchery and early grow-out environment. The objective of this study was to determine how long artificially inoculated Salmonella or Campylobacter would persist in the ceca, spleen and/or liver/gallbladder (LG) of broilers. Day old broiler chicks from a commercial hatchery were housed for two weeks in isolation units (IUs) on wire flooring or for six weeks in floor pens on pine shavings. Day of hatch chicks (10 per IU and 5 per floor pen) were orally gavaged with 103 cells of either nalidixic acid resistant Salmonella Typhimurium (STNR) or a gentamicin resistant Campylobacter coli (CCGR). IU birds were humanely euthanized at one and two weeks of age and floor pen birds at three and six weeks of age; ceca, spleen and LG were aseptically sampled for STNR or CCGR. All organs from all birds were positive for STNR at one week, most were still positive at two weeks and three weeks. By six weeks, no STNR was detected in any tested organs from any bird in the floor pens. Similarly, all organs from all birds were positive for CCGR at one week, but by two weeks, prevalence dropped for spleen and LG. By six weeks all ceca and spleens for all birds in floor pens were positive for CCGR; no Campylobacter was recovered from any LG samples. This demonstrates that translocation and persistence of orally inoculated Salmonella and Campylobacter differ. Additional studies are planned to further understand these differences.