Diversity and habitat specificity of free-living protozoa in commercial poultry houses.

ABSTRACT: Despite stringent biosecurity measures, infections by bacterial food pathogens such as Campylobacter are a recurrent problem in industrial poultry houses. As the main transmission route remains unclear, persistence of these infections has been linked to bacterial survival and possibly multiplication within protozoan vectors. To date, however, virtually no information is available on the diversity and occurrence of free-living protozoa in these environments. Using a combination of microscopic analyses of enrichment cultures and molecular methods (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis [DGGE]) on natural samples, we show that, despite strict hygiene management, free-living protozoa are common and widespread throughout a 6-week rearing period in both water and dry samples from commercial pou

SUBMITTER: Bare J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2648169 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature