Posted: November 26th, 2011 - 6:17pm
Source: The Poultry Site

GERMANY - The reduction of the prevalence of zoonoses and zoonotic agents like campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis requires eradication, control and monitoring measures to protect both animal and public health, according to a research papare in the World's Poultry Science Journal.
Therefore, it is important to identify the main sources of infections within the poultry production chain, say the authors, A. Wilke, H.-W. Windhorst and B. Grabkowsky from the Institute for Spatial Analysis and Planning in Areas of Intensive Agriculture (ISPA) and Lohmann Animal Health.
As the latest EFSA results show, these zoonotic agents were mostly found on fresh poultry meat as well as in live poultry.
Consequently, the main entrance paths have to be identified directly at farm level.
Based on a literature review, the 112 risk factors for an introduction of Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp. infections were summarised and attributed to 14 risk categories such as farm management, biosecurity, staff hygiene and carcass handling.
Afterwards, the main risk factors were identified by elicitation of expert opinion using the Delphi methodology.