| Abstract: |
Campylobacteriosis is the most reported gastrointestinal disease in humans in the EU, representing 70% of all the reporting cases. Wild animals, especially birds, are well known reservoirs for Campylobacter. The presence of pathogens in the Antarctica has received limited attention due to the region's isolation. However, Antarctic seabirds disperse across the Southern Ocean and can even spend the winter in the northern hemisphere. Such large-scale movements are thought to contribute to the introduction and dispersion of pathogens. To gain insight into de epidemiology and genetic diversity of Campylobacter, C. lari isolated from south polar skua (Stercorarius maccormicki) and brown skua (Catharacta antarctica) of the Southern Ocean was analysed. A total of 231 isolates of C. lari were recovered and identified from cloacal swab samples of 55 skuas. Birds were sampled at Adelaide Island, Gough Island, Falkland Islands, and Svarthamaren in the Southern Ocean. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was used to characterize the C. lari isolates using fla-A gene to study the genetic variation. A second typing technique, pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), was used for a higher power resolution in the characterization. Analysis were completed by including RFLP and PFGE data retrieved from a database containing data from C. lari isolates from additional locations from the Southern Ocean. |
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