Molecular epidemiology and genetic diversity of Campylobacter jejuni in ruminants.

Multi-locus sequence typing was performed on 1003 Campylobacter jejuni isolates collected in a 2-year longitudinal study of 15 dairy farms and four sheep farms in Lancashire, UK. There was considerable farm-level variation in occurrence and prevalence of clonal complexes (CC). Clonal complexes ST61, ST21, ST403 and ST45 were most prevalent in cattle while in sheep CC ST42, ST21, ST48 and ST52 were most prevalent. CC ST45, a complex previously shown to be more common in summer months in human cases, was more prevalent in summer in our ruminant samples. Gene flow analysis demonstrated a high level of genetic heterogeneity at the within-farm level. Sequence-type diversity was greater in cattle compared to sheep, in cattle at pasture vs. housed, and in isolates from farms on the Pennines compared to the Southern Fylde. Sequence-type diversity was greatest in isolates belonging to CC ST21, ST45 and ST206.