Source and Risk Factors for Campylobacter in Poultry and Impact on Human Disease in a Closed System

Assess presence and, as appropriate, the levels of Campylobacter in Icelandic samples that pertain to poultry operations. Employ cultural microbiological methods for detection of levels and carriage of low levels of the organism. Use PCR methods as appropriate for detecting characteristic amplicons in samples where the organism may be dead. Use data gathered from questionaires to obtain relevant epidemiological data. Create a risk assessment model describing transmission from environmental sources, through poultry production and processing, to humans.
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Isolate and enumerate Campylobacters from wild bird feces, breeder and broiler bird intestinal materials, and from processed carcasses and from humans. Characterize the isolates and amplicons using flaA SVR DNA sequences to create dendogram analysis. Employ epidemiological data together with the above data to create a risk assessment model to identify critical sources and circumstances relating to transmission.