Epidemiologic features of Campylobacter jejuni isolated from poultry broiler houses and surrounding environments as determined by use of molecular strain typing

Objective-To genetically type Campylobacter jejuni isolates from broiler ho uses or the external environment to identify the source of Campylobacter or ganisms in broiler chickens. Sample Population-Environmental samples associated with broiler chickens, i n commercial grow-out houses. Procedure-Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify flaB, and the amplicon was digested with Sau3A to create a restriction fragment length p olymorphism assay; PCR was also used to detect a transcribed spacer region in the 23S rRNA gene. Results-Isolates possessing a 23S spacer region were more prevalent outside broiler houses than inside. Houses that had previously contained chickens or lacked biosecurity procedures were more likely to contain isolates posse ssing the 23S spacer. One house contained only isolates possessing the spac er, whereas an adjacent house contained only isolates lacking the spacer. T he flaB type detected in broiler houses was different from the type detecte d in the environment; however, many isolates within the broiler houses cont ained untypable flaB genotypes. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-Most isolates from within houses were ge netically distinct from isolates from outside houses that were examined by bacteriologic culture, suggesting an undetected source of C jejuni. Detecti on of isolates containing the 23S spacer appeared to be an indicator of env ironmental contamination of the houses. The observation of completely diffe rent C jejuni genetic types simultaneously within adjacent houses suggests that some types do not compete successfully during the grow-out period. In addition, the diversity of genotypes identified within broiler houses indic ates the complexity of the ecologic features of C jejuni in the chicken env ironment.