Farm and environmental distribution of Campylobacter and Salmonella in broiler flocks

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in broilers and their distribution in the indoor and outdoor farm environment. Nine hundred samples (400 faecal; 300 indoor environment; 200 outdoor environment), were collected from 10 individual broiler houses on 10 farms. Campylobacter jejuni prevalence was significantly higher (P=0.003) in faeces (29.5%; 118/400) than the environment (0.8%; 4/500) in contrast to Salmonella Typhimurium from faecal (8.8%; 35/400) and environmental (8.4%; n=42/500) sources (P=0.217). S. Typhimurium predominantly exhibited antimicrobial resistance (AR) to streptomycin (46%) and tetracycline (31.5%). C. jejuni isolates exhibited AR only to tetracycline (55.5%). The PFGE profile revealed 100% similarity between S. Typhimurium isolates from faecal and environmental sources. No relationship was detected between C. jejuni isolates. The low prevalence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in the outdoor environment indicates that it may not be a significant reservoir for transmission of these pathogens on broiler farms.