Deciphering The Molecular Basis of Environmental Persistence in Campylobacter Using a Systems Approach

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Campylobacter jejuni is a bacterium that causes food poisoning in people. They usually catch the disease after eating poultry that has not been cooked properly, in which some bacteria survive. In the UK there are around 50,000 reported cases of gastroenteritis caused by Campylobacter each year - but many more cases go unreported because most people recover naturally after a few days. Even so, disease caused by Campylobacter costs the UK economy an estimated £500million. Surprisingly, the bacteria thrive in the guts of poultry, without causing any disease. The control of disease caused by Campylobacter is likely to require several interlinked control measures, including reducing carriage in poultry flocks, cleaning and decontaminating carcasses as they pass through the food chain and encouraging the appropriate cooking of poultry. It has been shown that most of the poultry on sale in the UK is contaminated with Campylobacter. Therefore, in this proposal we focus on ways of controlling carcass contamination. We have already found that some Campylobacter cells are able to resist killing by antibacterial chemicals, limiting the effectiveness of decontamination methods. In this project we will investigate how Campylobacter cells resist killing, how we might use antibacterial chemicals in more effective ways and how we might change some farming practices to limit carcass contamination.