Estimating the Frequency of Campylobacter spp. in Fecal Samples from Poultry Slaughterhouse Workers and Chicken Meat Sellers in Arak city, Iran

Thermophilic Campylobacter is the first cause of gastroenteritis infection in human. Nowadays, the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. is higher than other bacteria causing intestinal infection such as Salmonella and Shigella. This study was designed to compare the frequency of Campylobacter species in poultry slaughterhouse workers and poultry meat sellers (exposed group) and in healthy people (non-exposed group) in Arak city. Among the 104 samples, 52 samples were collected from the slaughterhouse workers and poultry meat sellers, and 52 samples were collected from the control group. The stool samples were taken from the slaughterhouse workers, poultry meat seller, and healthy people who had not received antibiotics for the last two weeks. For enrichment, the samples were enriched in Preston broth medium at 37℃ for 48 hrs under the microaerophilic conditions. Then they were sub cultured using a passive filtration method on Brucella agar at 37℃ for 72 hrs under the microaerophilic conditions. Finally, the samples were directly tested using genus- and species specific PCR primers. Of 52 samples collected from the slaughterhouse workers and poultry meat sellers, 11 (21.1%) samples were positive for the presence of Campylobacter spp. by PCR, and of 52 samples collected from the healthy people, 2 (3.8%) samples were reported as positive. The most frequent species isolated from the 2 groups were C.jejuni (53.84%) and C.coli (23.07%), respectively. Chicken is identified as one of the important sources of Campylobacter infections in humans, which may contaminate poultry Slaughterhouse workers and chicken meat sellers, which in turn, they could potentially transmit Campylobacter strains to healthy people and chicken meat.