Prevalence of Campylobacter spp infection in male mule ducks in Belgium

Salmonella enterica and Campylobacter spp food poisoning are major public health burden. In Belgium, breeding of mule duck is well developed and “foie gras” consumption shows a yearly increase. Flament et al. (2012) published a paper on the Belgian Salmonella spp infection in ducks but up to now there are no data about Campylobacter prevalence.
The monitoring of Campylobacter spp infections was performed from March 2008 to April 2009 in 9 Belgian duck farms starting at the arrival of French ducklings up to the end of the force-feeding period. Cotton-tipped swabs of droppings were collected in duckling transportation boxes 24 to 48 h after the arrival of animals in the farm. Pools of bird droppings (10 to 50 g in 3 to 5 samples, representative of the housing area) were collected at 3, 6, 9 weeks of age and at time of introduction in the force-feeding rooms (at 11 or 12 weeks of age). A membrane filter method adapted from the original Steele and Mc Dermott (1984) method was used. After the filtering step, Campy blood free selective medium plates were incubated at 37°C, micro-aerobically ([O2] < à 10%) in anaerobic jars and colonies corresponding to putative Campylobacter spp were further identified with the API Campy® system.
Campylobacter spp was isolated from all flocks, most of the time already at arrival of ducklings or at 3 weeks of age. Campylobacter jejuni subsp. jejuni (32/42) was the most frequent species isolated (Fig.1). Campylobacter coli (3/42), Campylobacter jejuni subsp. doylei (2/42) and Helicobacter fennelliae (3/42) were unfrequently isolated. Two isolates could not be identified to the species.
Our results confirm those of Tsai et Hsiang (2005) who found a prevalence of 92% for Campylobacter in Taiwan. The isolations of Campylobacter jejuni subsp. doylei and Helicobacter fennelliae were unexpected. Indeed man is considered the reservoir of Campylobacter jejuni subsp. doyley and up to now the isolation of Helicobacter was never reported from ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) (Murphy et al., 2005).
In conclusion the putative role of mule ducks in the transmission of Campylobacter food borne illness should not be underestimated