Campylobacter in poultry

Campylobacter is highly prevalent in poultry worldwide, including broilers, layers, turkeys, ducks, and geese, while causing little or no clinical disease. Campylobacter species are Gram-negative, motile, and non–spore-forming bacteria with a unique helical shape that changes to filamentous or coccoid as an adaptive response to environmental stresses. Campylobacter shedding by poultry varies by season, being highest in summer and autumn months. It is highly prevalent in commercial poultry and in chickens raised on organic or free-range farms, indicating that different production systems are equally vulnerable to invasion by this organism. Colonization of poultry by Campylobacter occurs primarily in the lower intestinal tract (cecum, colon, and cloaca). However, the organism can also be recovered to a lesser extent from the small intestines and gizzard, and infrequently from the liver, spleen, and gall bladder.