DIRECT MILK EXCRETION OF CAMPYLOBACTER-JEJUNI IN A DAIRY-COW CAUSING CASES OF HUMAN ENTERITIS

Consumption of milk contaminated with Campylobacter jejuni has been de scribed as a cause of human enteritis. Although faecal contamination o f milk with the organism has frequently been described, direct milk ex cretion of Campylobacter jejuni into milk has rarely been linked with cases of human infection. We describe the investigations undertaken fo llowing the isolation of Campylobacter jejuni from samples of unpasteu rized milk prior to retail. Results of epidemiological investigations including typing of Campylobacter jejuni isolates using pyrolysis mass spectrometry, Penner and Lior serotyping, biotyping, phage typing and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis provided convincing evidence implicating direct milk excretion of Campylobacter jejuni by one asymptomatic dairy cow as the source of the milk contamination an d the cause of local cases of human enteritis.