Incidence of Campylobacter in pigs with and without diarrhea

Abstract

Two hundred pigs (1- 21 weeks old), from five piggeries in Sao Paulo State, Brazil, were divided in two groups of 100 animals each, G1 with diarrhea and G2 without diarrhea. Campylobacter was recovered from 43% of G1 and 34% of G2 specimens, and was more frequently recovered from 0-4 week old piglets. C. coli was the most common species (44.2% in G1 and 32.4% in G2), followed by C. jejuni/coli (16.3% in G1 and 23.5% in G2). Campylobacter counts were significantly higher in G1 (£ 108 UFC/g) than in G2 (£ 104 UFC/g) (p < 0.01), which suggests that the bacterium may play a role at least in the aggravation of the diarrheic process.