Carriage of Campylobacter jejuni in healthy and diarrheic animals

Feces from normal and diarrheic animals were cultured for Campylobacter jejuni. A clear difference could not be detected in carriage between normal and diarrheic cattle, horses, pigs, and dogs. Too few diarrheic goats, sheep, and rabbits were sampled for conclusions to be made. Carriage rates (%) detected in normal animals were as follows: ducks 88.3, chickens 23.8, sheep 13.6, rabbits 11.3, goats 2.7, cattle 2.5, and dogs 0.5. The organism was not isolated from horses and mink. Carriage rates varied within a species between animals from different sources.