Abstract
In recent years, increasing numbers of consumers have become interested in feeding raw food for their pet dogs as opposed to commercial dry food, in the belief of health advantages. However, raw meat and internal organs, possibly contaminated by pathogens such as Campylobacter spp., may pose a risk of transmission of zoonoses to the pet owners. Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in humans but C. upsaliensis has also been associated with human disease. In this study we investigated the effect of different feeding strategies on the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in Finnish dogs. We further characterized the isolates using multilocus sequence typing (MLST), whole-genome (wg) MLST and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Dogs were sampled before and after a feeding period consisting of commercial raw feed or dry pellet feed. Altogether 56% (20/36) of the dogs yielded at least one Campylobacter-positive fecal sample. C. upsaliensis was the major species detected from 39% of the dogs before and 30% after the feeding period. Two C. jejuni isolates were recovered, both from raw-fed dogs after the dietary regimen. The isolates represented the same genotype (ST-1326), suggesting a common infection source. However, no statistically significant correlation was found between the feeding strategies and Campylobacter spp. carriage. The global genealogy of MLST types of dog and human C. upsaliensis isolates revealed weakly clonal population structure as most STs were widely dispersed. Major antimicrobial resistance among C. upsaliensis isolates was against streptomycin (STR MIC > 4mg/l). Apart from that, all isolates were highly susceptible against the antimicrobials tested. Mutations were found in the genes rpsL or rpsL and rsmG in streptomycin resistant isolates. In conclusion, increasing trend to feed dogs with raw meat warrants more studies to evaluate the risk associated with raw feeding of pets in transmission of zoonoses to humans.
Highlights
Campylobacteriosis is the most common bacterial gastrointestinal disease in humans worldwide
A total of two C. jejuni and 24 C. upsaliensis isolates were detected from the feces of the 36 dogs included in this study
Of the 33 dogs that kept to the feeding regimen, at baseline 13 (39.4%) were positive for C. upsaliensis and after the feeding period two dogs (6.1%) carried C. jejuni and 10 dogs (30.3%) C. upsaliensis
Summary
Campylobacteriosis is the most common bacterial gastrointestinal disease in humans worldwide. The major species causing human disease are Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli. Campylobacter upsaliensis, often isolated from dogs [1,2,3] has been described as a cause of human disease including gastroenteritis and bacteremia [4,5,6] and dog ownership or contact with dogs has been identified as a risk factor for human campylobacter infections [7,8]. Asymptomatic carriage is common and especially C. upsaliensis is frequently isolated from both symptomatic and asymptomatic dogs [9,10]. Chaban et al (2010) showed that diarrheic dogs were more likely to shed Campylobacter spp., C. jejuni and C. coli among others, at significantly higher concentrations compared to healthy dogs [12]
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