Table 3.

(a) Attribution of C. jejuni strains isolated from water to cattle, sheep and poultry using MLST and MALDI typing with three similarity thresholds ≥to 91%, ≥to 94%, ≥to 97%. Water strains with the same ST or grouped in the same MALDI cluster as animal strains were first considered. The remaining water strains were defined as non-attributed. (b) Attribution of C. coli strains isolated from water to pig, sheep and poultry using MLST and MALDI typing with three similarity thresholds ≥to 91%, ≥to 94%, ≥to 97%. Water strains with the same ST or grouped in the same MALDI cluster as animal strains were first considered. The remaining water strains were defined as non-attributed.

(a)		MLST			MALDI ≥ 91%			MALDI ≥ 94%			MALDI ≥ 97%
sources of C. jejuni strains	n. of isolates	n. of water strains with same ST as animal strains	% of attributed water strains		n. of water strains in same cluster ≥ 91% as animal strains	% of attributed water strains		n. of water strains in same cluster ≥ 94% as animal strains	% of attributed water strains		n. of water strains in same cluster ≥ 97% as animal strains	% of attributed water strains
Cattle	61	5	35.7		11	78.6		6	42.8		2	14.3
Sheep	27	1	7.1		1	7.1		0	0		0	0
Poultry	36	4	28.5		12	85.7		4	14.3		1	7.1
Water	14	9 non-attributed	64.3		1 non-attributed	7.1		6 non-attributed	42.8		11 non-attributed	78.8
(b)		MLST			MALDI ≥ 91%			MALDI ≥ 94%			MALDI ≥ 97%
sources of C. coli strains	n. of isolates	n. of water strains with same ST as animal strains	% of attributed water strains		n. of water strains in same cluster ≥ 91% as animal strains	% of attributed water strains		n. of water strains in same cluster ≥ 94% as animal strains	% of attributed water strains		n. of water strains in same cluster ≥ 97% as animal strains	% of attributed water strains
Pig	60	0	0		5	23.8		0	0		0	0
Sheep	15	0	0		5	23.8		0	0		0	0
Poultry	29	0	0		14	66.6		7	33.3		5	23.8
Water	21	21 non-attributed	100		2 non-attributed	9.52		14 non-attributed	66.6		16 non-attributed	76.2