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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2002, p. 5911-5917, Vol. 68, No. 12
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.12.5911-5917.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter lari, and Campylobacter coli in Different Ecological Guilds and Taxa of Migrating Birds{dagger}

Jonas Waldenström,1,2 Tina Broman,3,4 Inger Carlsson,5 Dennis Hasselquist,1 René P. Achterberg,6 Jaap A. Wagenaar,6 and Björn Olsen2,3,7*

Department of Animal Ecology, Lund University, SE-223 62 Lund,1 Department of Infectious Diseases,3 Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå,4 Department of Clinical Microbiology, Kalmar County Hospital, SE-391 85 Kalmar,5 Research Institute for Zoonotic Ecology and Epidemiology (RIZEE),SE-396 93 Färjestaden,7 Ottenby Bird Observatory, SE-380 65 Degerhamn, Sweden,2 Division of Infectious Diseases and Food Chain Quality, Institute for Animal Science and Health (ID-Lelystad), 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands6

Received 26 March 2002/ Accepted 30 August 2002

A total of 1,794 migrating birds trapped at a coastal site in southern Sweden were sampled for detection of Campylobacter spp. All isolates phenotypically identified as Campylobacter jejuni and a subset of those identified as non-C. jejuni were identified to the species level by PCR-based techniques. C. jejuni was found in 5.0% of the birds, Campylobacter lari was found in 5.6%, and Campylobacter coli was found in 0.9%. An additional 10.7% of the tested birds were infected with hippurate hydrolysis-negative Campylobacter spp. that were not identified to the species level. The prevalence of Campylobacter spp. differed significantly between ecological guilds of birds. Shoreline-foraging birds feeding on invertebrates and opportunistic feeders were most commonly infected (76.8 and 50.0%, respectively). High prevalence was also shown in other ground-foraging guilds, i.e., ground-foraging invertebrate feeders (11.0%), ground-foraging insectivores (20.3%), and plant-eating species (18.8%). Almost no Campylobacter spp. were found in ground-foraging granivores (2.3%), arboreal insectivores (0.6%), aerial insectivores (0%), or reed- and herbaceous plant-foraging insectivores (3.5%). During the autumn migration, a high proportion of samples from juveniles were positive (7.1% in passerines, 55.0% in shorebirds), indicating transmission on the breeding grounds or during the early part of migration. Prevalence of Campylobacter spp. was associated with increasing body mass among passerine bird species. Furthermore, prevalence was higher in short-distance migrants wintering in Europe than in long-distance migrants wintering in Africa, the Middle East, or Asia. Among ground-foraging birds of the Muscicapidae, those of the subfamily Turdinae (i.e., Turdus spp.) showed a high prevalence of Campylobacter spp., while the organism was not isolated in any member of the subfamily Muscicapinae (i.e., Erithacus and Luscinia). The prevalence of Campylobacter infection in wild birds thus seems to be linked to various ecological and phylogenetic factors, with great variations in carriership between different taxa and guilds.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Infectious Diseases, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden. Phone: 46 90 785 23 01. Fax: 46 90 13 30 06. E-mail: BjornOl{at}LTKALMAR.SE.

Contribution no. 178 from Ottenby Bird Observatory.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2002, p. 5911-5917, Vol. 68, No. 12
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.12.5911-5917.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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