The role of management systems in the epidemiology of thermophilic campylobacters among poultry in eastern zone of Tanzania.

A total of 255 samples of droppings collected from a total of 22 different poultry units were examined for the presence of thermophilic campylobacters and the isolates biotyped using Skirrow's protocol. The organisms were isolated from 90 (35.3%) of all samples. Among the 22 units investigated, 13 (59%) were found to have unsatisfactory management systems, while 7 (32%) and 2 (9%) were found to have unsatisfactory and good systems respectively. Significantly large numbers of isolations, 68 of 147 (46.2%), were made from samples collected from poultry units with poor management (P < 0.005), compared with 19 out of 84 (22.6%) samples which were collected from satisfactory units and 3 out of 24 (12.5%) samples collected from units exercising particularly good management. Nineteen of 72 (26.4%) samples collected from broilers, 32 out of 132 (24.2%) samples collected from layers and 39 out of 51 (76.49%) samples collected from indigenous free range poultry were positive for campylobacters. Among the 90 strains isolated from various units, 64 (70.1%) were Campylobacter jejuni, 25 (27.7%) were C. coli, and only 1 (2.2%) was C. laridis.