Prevalence of zoonotic Campylobacter spp. in rectal swabs from dogs in Slovakia: special reference to C. jejuni and C. coli.

This work focused on the isolation of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. in samples obtained from dog droppings. There were 135 samples collected and examined from both clinically healthy and diseased dogs from households, clinics, rehabilitation centres and dog shelters in eastern Slovakia. The isolation of the Campylobacter spp. was achieved by the use of combined selective cultivation methods, followed by confirmation and species identification of the isolates using the PCR method.The overall prevalence of Campylobacter in dogs was 30.4%. Statistically significant differences were recorded (P < 0.05) within the age groups of all dogs examined: 40.6% of the older dogs (> or = 1 year) tested positive, compared to 19.7% of the younger ones (< 1 year). There was no significant difference in relation to dog gender. The most frequently isolated species was Campylobacter (C.) jejuni, present in 51.2% of all positive samples. Campylobacter coli was present in 9.8% of the samples. The remaining positive samples (39%) were confirmed as C upsaliensis, based on phenotypic traits. The highest prevalence of Campylobacter was found in samples from shelters (50%) and the lowest in those from households (11.5%), with samples from rehabilitation centres (42.3%) and clinics (18.8%) coming in second and third place.The high prevalence of Campylobacter confirms the hypothesis that dogs, mainly the ones kept in groups, are a source of Campylobacter spp. Further investigation is required to determine to what extent infected dogs may be a potential source of infection in humans.