Utilizing a combination of molecular and spatial tools to assess the effect of a public health intervention.

Journal article

Until recently New Zealand had one of the highest rates of human campylobacteriosis reported by industrialized countries. Since the introduction of a range of control measures in the poultry production chain a reduction in human cases of around 50% has been observed nationwide. To inform risk managers a combination of spatial, temporal and molecular tools - including minimum spanning trees, risk surfaces, rarefaction analysis and dynamic source attribution modelling - was used in this study to formally evaluate the reduction in disease risk that occurred after the implementation of control measures in the poultry industry. Utilizing data from a sentinel surveillance site in the Manawatu region of New Zealand, our analyses demonstrated a reduction in disease risk attributable to a reduction in the number of poultry-associated campylobacteriosis cases. Before the implementation of interventions poultry-associated cases were more prevalent in urban than rural areas, whereas for ruminant-associated cases the reverse was evident. In addition to the overall reduction in prevalence, this study also showed a stronger intervention effect in urban areas where poultry sources were more dominant. Overall a combination of molecular and spatial tools has provided evidence that the interventions aimed at reducing Campylobacter contamination of poultry were successful in reducing poultry-associated disease and this will inform the development of future control strategies.

Authors: Muellner, P; Marshall, J; Spencer, SE; Noble, A; Shadbolt, T

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Preventive veterinary medicine
• Volume: 102
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 242-253
• Publication date: 2011-12-01
• DOI: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2011.07.011
• EISSN: 1873-1716
• ISSN: 0167-5877
• Language: English
• Keywords: Genotype; New Zealand; Bacterial Typing Techniques; Molecular Epidemiology; Models, Biological; Humans; Urban Population; Poultry Diseases; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Campylobacter Infections; Risk Assessment; Bayes Theorem; Sentinel Surveillance; Campylobacter jejuni; Rural Population; Animals; Poultry