Abstract

M. D. Salihu, A. U. Junaidu, A. A. Magaji, M. B. Abubakar, A. Y. Adamu, A. S. Yakubu

The study was conducted in Sokoto, Nigeria from November 2007 to October 2008 to investigate the presence of Campylobacter spp. in poultry meat, by standard culture techniques. Campylobacter was detected in 558 (81.9%) of the 681 meat samples, the isolates were characterized by conventional phenotypic tests. Campylobacter jejuni was the most commonly identified species accounting for 340 (60.9%) of the positive samples and 413 (62.3%) of the total isolates, while C. coli and C. lari had 156 (28.0%) and 39 (7.0%) of the positive samples respectively. Thermophilic strains not identified as C. jejuni, C. coli, or C. lari were grouped as “other thermophilic species” and these account for 23 (4.1%) of the positive samples and 32 (4.8%) of the total isolates. Among these, 19 (59.4%) of the 32 strains were also identified as C. upsaliensis while 5 (15.6%) were identified as C. hyointestinalis. The most frequently identified biotype of C. jejuni, C. coli and C. lari was biotype I which accounts for 58.8, 68.0 and 59.2% respectively of the total individual isolates. The presence of Campylobacter in poultry meat may play a role as food borne pathogen of more importance than hitherto reported.