Seasonal study of a freshwater lake and migratory waterfowl for Campylobacter jejuni

In the summer and fall of 1981, water and sediment samples from Lake Onalaska, a Mississippi River navigation pool near La Crosse, Wisconsin, were quantitatively examined for Campylobacter jejuni and for standard bacterial indicators of fecal pollution. Fifty cecal content samples, representing seven species of transient waterfowl captured during fall migration, were also assayed for C. jejuni. Fecal coliform and fecal streptococcus counts from the water and sediment samples agreed with previously established values for the pool and accurately reflected the influx of approximately 619 000 ducks and geese during fall migration. Campylobacter jejuni was not recovered from water, sediment, or cecal samples. This conflicts with previous reports which implied a cosmopolitan distribution of C. jejuni among waterfowl. Reasons for the absence of C. jejuni from the pool and from waterfowl in and around that pool were discussed, with special reference to method of recovery and sporadic distribution of other pathogenic microorganisms among migratory waterfowl.