Concomitant occurrence of Campylobacter and parvoviruses in dogs with gastroenteritis

In 1979 a canine parvovirus infection was widespread among dogs in Sweden. During the epizootic faecal samples were taken for bacteriological examination from 77 hospitalised dogs at an animal clinic. Forty-nine of the dogs had signs of gastroenteritis and they were all infected with canine parvovirus according to serological investigations. The remaining 28 dogs were referred to the clinic for other reasons. Campylobacter was isolated from 23 out of the 49 dogs with gastroenteritis and from 4 out of 28 dogs lacking symptoms of enteritis. The significance of these findings is discussed.