Molecular epidemiology of Campylobacter fetus isolates from cattle in the Tokachi area of Hokkaido, Japan
2019
Takahashi, H. (Hokkaido Tokachi Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Obihiro (Japan)) | Iwata, T. | Nobumoto, K. | Okamoto, E. | Akiba, M. | Tachibana, S.
Campylobacter fetus is recognized as a causative agent of ruminant abortion, and sepsis and meningitis in humans. This study investigated C. fetus infection status and the mode of pathogen transmission in farms in the Tokachi area of Hokkaido. An epidemiological survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of C. fetus in cattle farms. C. fetus-associated abortion in cattle and carriage of C. fetus in preputial cavities were observed in this area from 2014 to 2016. The bacteria were isolated from the feces of a cow that underwent an abortion, bulls, and a cow and bulls from the same stable. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns of the isolates were similar to those of isolates from aborted fetus and preputial samples, suggesting that feces played an important role in the transmission and persistence of C. fetus in the investigated farms. All 31 C. fetus isolates were identified as C. fetus subsp. fetus based on 1% glycine tolerance, a key feature of this subspecies, and several recently published molecular methods for C. fetus subspecies identification. However, 7 of the isolates were identified as C. fetus subsp. venerealis using an alternative PCR assay targeting the subspecies-specific gene parA. These results indicate that the PCR assay targeting for parA was not suitable for C. fetus subspecies differentiation in this setting.
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