Ocorrência de Campylobacter spp. em carcaças resfriadas de frangos abatidos na região oeste de Santa Catarina / Ocurrence of Campylobacter spp. in chilled chicken carcasses slaughtered in the west region of Santa Catarina, Brazil

ABSTRACT

Background: The thermophilic bacteria of the genus Campylobacter are important agents of alimentary gastroenteritis, called campylobacteriosis. These microorganisms multiply in temperatures ranging from 25ºC to 46ºC, however, low temperatures are incompatible with their multiplication. For this reason, the seasons of the year may interfere with the level of contamination by Campylobacter sp. The main sources of transmission are contaminated meat and giblets from poultry during poorly conducted slaughter operations. The disease may present itself with a different range of forms of disease from mild signs of gastrointestinal infection to more severe cases, such as the Guillain-Barré syndrome. Material, Methods & Results: Due to the great importance of western Santa Catarina to the poultry industry, it was necessary to verify the occurrence of the pathogen in cold carcasses of broilers slaughtered in this region, and its variation through the seasons of the year. From January 2013 to February 2015 broiler carcasses were collected weekly, after the water cooling process, in slaughterhouses under Federal Inspection of the three largest microregions of western Santa Catarina in terms of number of broilers slaughtered, totaling 808 samples. The assessment of thermophilic Campylobacter was performed according to the methodology recommended by ISO 10272-1 2006. Of the 808 samples analyzed, the frequency of isolation of thermophilic Campylobacter was 1.82% (8/440) in microregion 1, 4.95% (10/202) in microregion 2 and 13.86% (23/166) in the microregion 3, totaling 5.07% of positive samples (41/808). Comparing the microregions, it was verified that there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) between the isolation frequencies of microregions 1 and 2. However, there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) between the isolation rates of Microregion 3 in relation to microregions 1 and 2.[...]