Epidemiological Studies on Animals and Humans as Reservoirs of Thermophilic Campylobacters

Abstract

A total of 730 samples comprising of poultry caeca (210), poultry meat (111) along with faeces of poultry (180), goat (26), sheep (23), pigs (78), calves (20) and humans (82) were collected from Pantnagar and nearby areas of Uttarakhand. Biochemical and molecular tests confirmed 39 isolates belonging to genus Campylobacter with 21 C. jejuni and 18 C. coli by multiplex PCR. Highest isolation rate was recovered from poultry caeca (7.62%) followed by poultry faeces (7.22%)) chicken meat (3.60%), humans stools (3.66%), pigs faeces (2.56%) and calves faeces (5%). No isolate was recovered from sheep and goat samples. Absolute dominance of the C. jejuni and C. coli was not observed among the samples. Pantnagar and Bareilly regions observed occurrence of thermophilic campylobacters with varying prevalence. The presence of thermophilic campylobacters in animals of the region could be potential source of spread in humans.