Review of the Food-borne Zoonoses Research ... - ARCHIVE: Defra

nature of Campylobacter, and lack of success in controlling this organism through
biosecurity, highlights the necessity for progressing other potential approaches to control.
2.2 Issues and areas of concern relating to this research
A number of concerns were voiced by the reviewers in relation to the Campylobacter
research programme:
1. It was felt that teams working on Campylobacter research often did so in isolation
from each other. Increasing collaboration, and bringing the complementary
expertise of different teams together would be beneficial to progressing the
science in this area.
2. At present Defra, FSA and BBSRC each hold separate reviews of their research
programmes. While each are kept abreast of work being funded by the others and
there was not a problem in duplication of effort, it was suggested that a more
joined up approach to research reviews would be useful in identifying gaps in
research.
3. Reviewers highlighted the importance of contractors alerting Defra when project
objectives are found to no longer be appropriate. This enables an alternative
project plan to be agreed so that the contract still delivers information that is of
value to Defra.
4. Research has shown a small seasonal effect on Campylobacter colonisation in
chickens in the UK. It is therefore important to ensure any research into
interventions is properly designed to prevent conclusions being drawn on natural
fluctuations in Campylobacter levels.
5. For vaccination or competitive exclusion to be of significant use in the future it is
important to build links with industry to take work to the next stage and test
findings under field conditions.
2.3 Gaps in research
While the development of MLST for Campylobacter sp. was acknowledged to be of
fundamental importance, reviewers agreed that it was not the perfect epidemiological tool
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