GLOBAL SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS ON FOODBORNE THERMOTOLERANT CAMPYLOBACTER PREVALENCE IN DIFFERENT SPECIES OF POULTRY BIRDS AND ASSOCIATED SOURCES OF CONTAMINATION

Abstract

Campylobacteriosis is one of the most prevalent foodborne bacterial diseases. Infected chickens and poultry products are a possible source of this illness in people all over the world. Therefore, the ob-jective of this current meta-analysis was to summarise the available data on the prevalence of thermo-tolerant Campylobacter species in poultry and their products. A systematic literature search was con-ducted to gather pertinent articles from 2000 to 2021, using globally recognised four electronic data-bases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, and Scopus. The mean prevalence of cam-pylobacteriosis in poultry species and their products (meat, eggs, and offal) was 44% (95% CI: 39– 50%) with the highest prevalence in Australia (67%). Among the European countries, France had the maximum prevalence rate of 76%, while Japan had recorded 61% as the peak among Asian countries. Prevalence rates of 43% and 56% were calculated in United States and Brazil representing the Ameri-can region. In the species-wise results, the mean prevalence rates of Campylobacter jejuni and Cam-pylobacter coli were 29% and 16%, correspondingly. In case of live birds, chickens and turkeys pos-sessed maximum prevalence rates of 47% and 40%, whereas 46% and 63% were recorded from poultry meat and liver. Besides, categorising the difference sources of contamination, the maximum prevalence rate of 62% was found in the poultry processing plants followed by 54% from supermarkets and 38% from farms. According to the current meta-analysis, Campylobacter jejuni was the most com-mon bacterium worldwide, and poultry meat – the most frequent source of human infection. The pre-dominance of Campylobacter species is a threat for public health, and national authorities must un-dertake strategies to control this disease in each country with the goal of establishing adequate risk management measures.