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%).
Keywords antimicrobial agents - campylobacters - household dogs - salmonellae - stray dogs