Figure 2.

Experimental infection of mallards with C. jejuni strains of various hosts. (A) Colonization dynamics in mallards during infection with C. jejuni strains isolated from mallard (blue), chicken (red), and song thrush (green). The graph illustrates the predicted smoothed mean value for each strain with 95% confidence bands based on the mean colony forming units (cfu) per ml of initial suspension for all fecal samples at each time point, as measured by plate counts. Each dot represents fecal cfu/ml from one bird at each time point. Zeros were replaced for one to fit a log scale. (B,C) Colonization dynamics in mallards during mixed infection with strains isolated from mallard (blue) and chicken (red). The graphs illustrate the predicted smoothed mean value for each strain with 95% confidence bands corresponding to the mean cfu/ml of initial suspension for all fecal samples at each time point, as determined by real-time PCR with C_T-values transformed to cfu/ml. In experiment 2a, birds were infected at 0 dpi with the chicken strain followed by the mallard strain at day 4 dpi (indicated by blue arrow). (B) In experiment 2b, birds were infected at 0 dpi with the mallard strain followed by the chicken strain at 4 dpi (indicated by red arrow). (C) Zeros were replaced for 1 to fit a log scale. The dashed line indicates the theoretical limit of detection.