Experimental infection of chickens with Campylobacter jejuni: Strains differ in their capacity to colonize the intestine

Groups of broiler and layer type chickens (25 to 63 d.o.) were inoculated per os with separate isolates of 10 strains of Campylobacter jejuni. Nine of the 10 strains were originally isolated from chickens and one from a dog. The dog strain and five of the chicken isolates could be isolated after inoculation, but four strains were not recovered from cloacal swabs for up to 4 to 16 days after inoculation. However, it was possible to isolate C. jejuni from these birds, from cloacal swabs, when they were inoculated with organisms which had been previously shown to colonize other birds.