Molecular identification of Campylobacter jejuni and coli from chicken, calves and dogs to determine its potential threat on human being.

AIM: Campylobacter is an emerging zoonotic pathogen and one of the leading cause of foodborne infection worldwide and it has been isolated from a variety of animal species. The aim of this study was to identify Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli from dogs, calves, and poultry using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). METHODOLOGY: A total of 104 number of samples comprising cloacal swab from poultry (38), a rectal swab from dogs (40), and calves (26) were collected for the isolation of thermophilic Campylobacters using conventional culture method. PCR was used for identification of mapA gene for C.jejuni and ceuE for C.coli. RESULTS: The overall presence of Campylobacter was found to be 67(64.42%) from the samples, out of which 6 isolates belongs to C. jejuni species, were 5(18.51%) from chicken and 1(4.17%) from dog was recorded and about 17 isolates belongs to C. coli species were 9(33.33%), 6 (25%), and 1(9.09%) from chicken, dog and calves was recorded. CONCLUSION: Results suggested that Campylobacter reservoirs chicken, calves and pet dogs can play a role as the source of infection to human beings and PCR can be an ideal tool for molecular confirmation at the species level.

Epidemiological Modeling of Bovine Brucellosis in India.

The study objective is to develop an epidemiological model of brucellosis transmission dynamics among cattle in India and to estimate the impact of different prevention and control strategies. The prevention and control strategies are test-and-slaughter, transmission rate reduction, and mass vaccination. We developed a mathematical model based on the susceptible-infectious-recovered epidemic model to simulate brucellosis transmission dynamics, calibrated to the endemically stable levels of bovine brucellosis prevalence of cattle in India. We analyzed the epidemiological benefit of different rates of reduced transmission and vaccination. Test-and-slaughter is an effective strategy for elimination and eradication of brucellosis, but socio-cultural constraints forbid culling of cattle in India. Reducing transmission rates lowered the endemically stable levels of brucellosis prevalence correspondingly. One-time vaccination lowered prevalence initially but increased with influx of new susceptible births. While this epidemiological model is a basic representation of brucellosis transmission dynamics in India and constrained by limitations in surveillance data, this study illustrates the comparative epidemiological impact of different bovine brucellosis prevention and control strategies.