Salmonellae and Campylobacters in Household and Stray Dogs in Northern Taiwan

Abstract

Rectal swabs were collected from 437 household and 491 stray dogs in northern Taiwan from May 2003 to June 2005 to investigate the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibilities of salmonellae and campylobacters. The results revealed that 2.1% of household dogs and 6.3% of stray dogs were positive for salmonellae, with Salmonella Duesseldorf being the most dominant serotype in both. Additionally, 2.7% of the household dogs and 23.8% of the stray dogs were positive for campylobacters. Campylobacter jejuni was the most prevalent species (86.8%), followed by C. upsaliensis (9.3%) and C. coli (3.9%). Both salmonella and campylobacter isolation rates from the stray dogs were significantly higher than those from the household dogs (p < 0.01). The susceptibility of 33 C. jejuni isolates to eight antimicrobials was studied by the E-test. A high rate of resistance was observed to azithromycin (93.9%), clindamycin (87.9%), erythromycin (81.8%), tetracycline (78.8%), chloramphenicol (69.7%), nalidixic acid (51.5%), gentamicin (33.3%), and ciprofloxacin (18.2%). The susceptibility of 40 Salmonella isolates to 15 antimicrobials was also studied by the disc-diffusion method. All the Salmonella isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone. Resistance was observed most frequently to tetracycline (77.5%), chloramphenicol (52.5%), and ampicillin (50%).

Prevalence of virulence and cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) genes in thermophilic Campylobacter spp. from dogs and humans in Gyeongnam and Busan, Korea

“…In present study, the isolation rate of Campylobacter in dog was lower than that reported by Hald et al (76.2%) [15], however, it was similar to that of Tsai et al (13.9%) [31]. The isolation rate was significantly higher in stray dogs (25.2%) than household dogs (8.8%).…”

“…One particular importance to humans is their colonization in animals for food production, including poultry, cattle, sheep, and swine [9]. The household dog has been identified as a risk factor for human campylobacteriosis [11,31]. Most dogs are asymptomatic when they serve as reservoirs in shedding Campylobacter spp.…”

Salmonella genomic island 1 and class 1 integron in Salmonella isolates from stray dogs

“…and of serotypes of Salmonella in stray dogs seem to vary among different countries (Kocabiyik et al, 2006;Tsai et al, 2007). The diet and environment of stray dogs apparently determine the number and occurrence of Salmonella serotypes (Finley et al, 2007;Morse and Duncan, 1975).…”

“…A previous study showed that the prevalence of Salmonella in the feces of stray dogs of Turkey was between 0.0 and 23.5% (Kocabiyik et al, 2006). The prevalence of Salmonella in stray dogs of northern Taiwan was reported to be 6.3%, with some isolates having multidrug resistance (Tsai et al, 2007). Multidrug resistance is associated with the presence of mobile genetic elements that enable horizontal and vertical transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in Gram-negative bacteria (van Essen-Zandbergen et al, 2007).…”

Characterization of antimicrobial resistance and application of RFLP for epidemiological monitoring of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. isolated from dogs and humans in Korea

“…The household dog has previously been identified as a risk factor for human campylobacteriosis [1,3,29]. Most of dogs carrying the bacteria are asymptomatic, serving as reservoirs capable of shedding Campylobacter spp.…”