Browsing by Subject "karja"

Campylobacters are the most common bacterial cause of diarrhoea in humans. In Finland there were more than 3500 cases reported in 2006 (National Public Health Institute, www.ktl.fi). Cattle carry prevalently campylobacters, generally Campylobacter jejuni, C. hyointestinalis subsp. hyointestinalis and C. coli. Campylobacters are zoonotic. Animals and animal origin food products can be vectors of human infections. Unpasteurized milk has proved to be an important risk factor in epidemiologic studies. Also in sporadic epidemics unpasteurized milk has been proved to be an infectious vector. Arcobacters belong to the same family as campylobacters. Arcobacters are very similar to campylobacters in their character, except that arcobacters are aerotolerant while campylobacters can grow only in a microaerophilic atmosphere. Arcobacter's pathogenity is unclear and in epidemiologic understanding their importance as pathogens is not as great as that of campylobacters. In this research the occurrence of campylobacters and arcobacters in raw milk, cattle faeces and flies was studied. Samples were collected at eight dairy farms in southern Finland and at one dairy farm in western Finland in June and July 2007. Campylobacters and arcobacters were examined by using an enrichment procedure and selective culturing. Isolated strains were classified with biochemical tests, PCR-technique and comparing their growth abilities. Campylobacters and arcobacters were quantified in milk using Most Probable Number -method. In addition, the survival of C. jejuni ATCC 33560 and C. hyointestinalis CH1/06 strains were examined in sterile milk at three temperatures (4 °C, 25 °C and 37 °C) for three days. C. hyointestinalis was isolated from raw milk at one of the dairy farms in June. The bacter quantity was MPN 11/100 ml. A. butzleri was isolated from raw milk at the same farm in June MPN 285/100 ml and in July MPN 52/100 ml. C. hyointestinalis was isolated from faeces at another farm in June while in July A. butzleri was isolated from raw milk MPN 52/100 ml at the same farm. At a third farm A. butzleri was isolated from raw milk MPN 71/100 ml and from faeces. Campylobacters can pass on to raw milk during milking as a consequence of faeces contamination. Arcobacters' access to a milk tank was not examined but as environmental bacters they might enter the tank along with milk or during tank wash, and form a bio film on the wall of the tank. The quantity of C. jejuni and C. hyointestinalis strains remained remarkable at every temperature examined. On the other hand, in sterile milk there were no competitive microbial organisms, nor their metabolic products, both of which could reduce the studied strains' survival in raw milk.