Risk factors for Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in young cattle on English and Welsh farms

Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli are the most prevalent causes of bacterial diarrhoea in most of the Western World. In Great Britain, the source remains unknown for the majority of cases, though poultry is considered the main source of infection. Molecular typing methods identify cattle as a potential source of a proportion of the non-source-attributed cases, mainly through direct contact, environmental contamination or milk, but little is known about the epidemiology of Campylobacter in cattle. A cross-sectional study was undertaken on young cattle 3–17 months of age on 56 cattle farms in England and Wales to identify association between the presence of C. jejuni and C. coli and farm characteristics and management practices. Campylobacter was detected on 62.5% of the farms and the presence of dairy cows (OR: 3.7, CI95%: 1.2; 11.7), indoor housing (OR: 4.6, CI95%: 1.8; 12.0), private water supply (OR: 2.5, CI95%: 1.2; 5.4), presence of horses (OR: 3.2, CI95%:1.5; 6.9) and feeding hay (OR: 2.9, CI95%:1.6; 5.5) were associated with detection. The model’s goodness-of-fit was improved when herd size was forced in the model without being statistically significant (p = 0.34).