Campylobacter intestinal carriage among stray and pet dogs.

The natural distribution of thermotolerant Campylobacter sp. in dogs (150 stray animals and 64 pets) was studied. Campylobacters were more frequently isolated (p < 0.01) from stray dogs (51.3%) rather than from pet dogs (21.9%). All the biotypes described by Lior for C. jejuni and C. coli were found among stray animals, whereas only C. jejuni biotypes I and II and C. coli biotype II were found among pet dogs. The need for more studies related to the role of environmental sanitary conditions in the spreading of Campylobacter species is noted.