Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the presence of Campylobacter (C.) jejuni and C. coli in dogs at five dog training centers in Southern Italy. A total of 550 animals were sampled by collecting rectal swabs. The samples were processed to detect thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. by culture and molecular methods. Campylobacter spp. were isolated from 135/550 (24.5–95% confidence interval) dogs. A total of 84 C. jejuni (62.2%) and 51 C. coli (37.8%) isolates were identified using conventional PCR. The dog data (age, sex, breed, and eating habits) were examined by two statistical analyses using the C. jejuni and C. coli status (positive or negative) as dependent variables. Dogs fed home-cooked food showed a higher risk of being positive for C. jejuni than dogs fed dry or canned meat for dogs (50.0%; p < 0.01). Moreover, purebred dogs had a significantly higher risk than crossbred dogs for C. coli positivity (16.4%; p < 0.01). This is the first study on the prevalence of C. jejuni and C. coli in dogs frequenting dog training centers for animal-assisted therapies (AATs). Our findings emphasize the potential zoonotic risk for patients and users involved in AATs settings and highlight the need to carry out ad hoc health checks and to pay attention to the choice of the dog, as well as eating habits, in order to minimize the risk of infection.
Highlights
Dogs are playing an increasing role as supporters or co-therapists for people with psychological or physical disabilities [1]
Dogs are the main animal species involved in animal-assisted therapies (AATs) [5,14,15], but despite the benefits derived from their competence and their interspecific relationship with humans, this animal species could represent a vector of several zoonotic agents’ transmission [16,17,18,19,20,21,22]
Positive samples were identified as C. jejuni, whereas 51/135 (37.8, confidence interval (CI) = 29.7–46.6%) positive samples were identified as C. coli
Summary
Dogs are playing an increasing role as supporters or co-therapists for people with psychological or physical disabilities [1]. AATs with dogs represent non-pharmacological therapies or co-therapies to support psychotherapy or other therapies [3,4,5,6,7]. Dogs are the main animal species involved in AATs [5,14,15], but despite the benefits derived from their competence and their interspecific relationship with humans, this animal species could represent a vector of several zoonotic agents’ transmission [16,17,18,19,20,21,22]. Zoonotic bacterial diseases can be transmitted to humans by infected saliva, aerosols, contaminated urine or feces, and by direct contact with the dog.
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