Detection and enumeration of zoonotic pathogens in agricultural effluents

Livestock production is vital to the world economy. However, intensive animal production is known to require large inputs of raw materials and energy, whilst producing greater amounts and concentration of waste material than do the traditional methods of production. Although the wastes, in the form of slurries and manures, are high in plant nutrients and organic matter, they can also contain zoonotic pathogens including Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7; presenting an important risk of the transmission of infectious diseases into the human population and other animal infection. Comprehensive investigations have been conducted specifically on the important human pathogen Campylobacter, both in its culturable, and its viable but non-culturable forms, using traditional cultivation and contemporary molecular techniques i.e. ImmunoMagnetic Separation (IMS) and Quantitative Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). Results show that 21.6% of surface water samples (n=180) taken at three dairy/beef cattle and sheep farms in Scotland were positive for Campylobacter using the culturing method as detailed below.