Observations made on strains of Campylobacter spp. isolated in 1989 in northern Italy.

Over a 12-month period (1989), 192 thermophilic campylobacters (190 from stool and two from blood specimens) were isolated. All the strains were identified as far as species and biotype was concerned and 89 were also serotyped according to the Lior method. C. jejuni (90.10%) was the species most frequently isolated (mainly biotype I) while the most frequent serogroup was LIO 4. Erythromycin-resistance was found in only 15 strains, but while it was very low for the species C. jejuni (1.16%), it was frequent for C. Coli (68.42%), mainly for biotype I (73.33%). Moreover, eight strains of thermophilic campylobacters resistant to nalidixic acid (three strains of C. jejuni and five strains of C. coli) were found.