2018 Volume 71 Issue 12 Pages 719-722
Our previous studies showed that the prevalence and bacterial concentration of Campylobacter were lower in chickens given special feed (B chickens) than in those given ordinary feed. We further investigated the colonization of Campylobacter among B chickens in 34 farms and found that only 6 farms were positive for Campylobacter. When the farms were evaluated based on hygiene practices, 17 were “good”, 11 were “intermediate”, and 6 were “poor”. Of these, 1 (6%), 2 (18%), and 3 (50%) respectively were positive for Campylobacter. Analysis of the relationship between the contaminated farms and their hygienic levels revealed a significant difference between farm contamination rates (odds ratio: 5.30, P = 0.019, good vs. poor). This suggests that there are potential beneficial effects of good hygiene practices for decreasing Campylobacter contamination risk at farms raising B chickens, where the Campylobacter infection rate appears to be lowered with the provision of special feed.
