Isolation of Campylobacter jejuni from Diarrheal and Non-diarrheal Dogs and Serotyping the Isolates by Slide Agglutination Technique

The feces and rectal swabs from dogs in 3 different veterinary clinics for pets were obtained and cultured on Skirrow's agar for 48 hours at 37°C under microaerophilic condition. Of 196 diarrheal dogs examined, Campylobacter jejuni were isolated from 13 dogs (6.6%). Nine (13.8%) of the 13 positive cases were from 65 dogs under one old year. However, of 209 dogs without gastrointestinal disturbance, 8 (3.8%) samples were positive. Thus the frequency of C. jejuni isolated was higher in diarrheal symptom dogs than in non-diarrheal dogs. All isolated strains were identified as C. jejuni biotype 1 by Skirrow and Benjamin system. Fifteen strains (71.4%) showed a positive slide agglutination reaction with our serotyping system for C. jejuni. Serotypes were TCK 1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 21 and TCK 23. These serotypes were found in strains of human diarrheal cases and outbreaks. This may suggestthat dogs may act as possible sources of campylobacter infection in human. Salmonella was isolated from 4 dogs, Yersinia enterocolitica from 2 dogs and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis from 1 dog.