Effect of preslaughter events on prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in market-weight turkeys.

The effects of events which occur prior to slaughter, such as loading, transport, and holding at an abattoir, on the prevalence of Campylobacter species, including Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, were examined. Cloacal swabs from market-weight turkeys in each of five flocks were obtained on a farm prior to loading (time 1; 120 swabs per flock) and after transport and holding at the abattoir (time 2; 120 swabs per flock). A statistically significant increase in the overall prevalence of Campylobacter spp. was observed for cloacal swabs obtained from farm 3 following transport (P < 0.01). At time 2, an increase in the prevalence of C. coli was also noted for cloacal swabs from farms 3, 4, and 5 (P < 0.01). Neither the minimum time off of feed nor the distance transported from the farm to the abattoir was correlated with the increase in C. coli prevalence. Similarly, responses to an on-farm management questionnaire failed to detect any factors contributing to the observed changes in Campylobacter sp. prevalence. A SmaI macrorestriction analysis of Campylobacter sp. isolates recovered from flock 5 indicated that C. coli was more diverse than C. jejuni at both time 1 and time 2 (P < 0.01), based on a comparison of the Shannon indices of diversity and evenness.