The house fly (Musca domestica L.) may transmit Campylobacter to broiler flocks. We assessed the retention time of house flies for Campylobacter jejuni at five temperatures and three doses. Flies were inoculated individually at their proboscis with 1.6 × 107 CFU (colony forming units) of C. jejuni and incubated at 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35°C. Furthermore, a dose experiment was conducted at 25°C where individual flies were inoculated in three series: 6.5 × 106, 6.0 × 104, and 8.2 × 102 C. jejuni CFU. Whole flies were tested for C. jejuni carriage at 0, 6, 12, 18, and 24 h by initial preenrichment in Bolton broth, which afterwards was streaked on modified mCCDA agar plates and incubated under micro-aerobic conditions. The results showed that the time C. jejuni remained in flies declined over time with ascending temperatures and when reducing the inoculation dose. All flies stayed Campylobacter positive 24 h postinoculation at 15°C whereas only one-third of the flies were positive at 20°C and few to none at 25, 30, and 35°C. When combinations of temperature and retention time were expressed as accumulated day-degrees, data could be adequately fitted using a generalized linear mixed model that included a linear effect of day-degrees and the difference between the lowest and the two highest doses. Based on model predictions of selected combinations of temperature and dose, the time for 50% and 1% of flies containing Campylobacter was calculated. It is suggested that house flies are mainly short distance carriers of C. jejuni.
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1 November 2011
Retention of Campylobacter (Campylobacterales: Campylobacteraceae) in the House Fly (Diptera: Muscidae)
H. Skovgård,
K. Kristensen,
B. Hald
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Journal of Medical Entomology
Vol. 48 • No. 6
November 2011
Vol. 48 • No. 6
November 2011
broilers
Campylobacter jejuni
Musca domestica
retention time
temperature