Prevalence of Campy/obacter spp. and Yersinia enterocolitica in Fattening Pig Herds in Lower Saxony, Germany

Abstract

The results of a study on the occurrence of two bacteria that cause zoonoses, Campylobacter spp. and Yersmia enterocolilica were presented and the results of bacteriological and serological methods of detection were compared. The study was carried out on 30 fattening herds in Lower Saxony, Germany Bacteriological findings of Campylobacter spp. in the faeces indicated that 69.7% of the fattening pigs were positive, but 81 .2% tested positive serologically. All herds tested here were both bactenolog1cally and serologically positive for Campylobacter spp. Furthermore, only 8.4 % tested pos1t1ve for Yersinia enterocolitica in the faecal samples, but 66.8 % of the animals were serologically positive for that bacterium. At herd level 43.3 % of the herds tested bactenologically positive for Yersinia enterocolitica, whereas serological testing showed that 83.3 % of the units had one or more reacting animal. Although both agents take the same route of Infection there was no statistical correlation between bacteriological and serological findings for Campylobacter spp. and Yersinia enterocolit1ca. The great dtfference between the results of bactenologtcal and serological testing , especiall y in the case of Yersm1a enteroco/itJca, can be explained by the intermittent intestinal excretion and predominance of this bacterium tn the antmals' tonsils. Low faecal excretion is also the reason for the low detection rate of 3.4 % of Yersinia enterocoliflca in the envtronmental samples , while that of Campylobacter spp. was 33 .3 %. These resu lts indicate that the environment plays only a secondary role in the distribution of Yersima enterocolitica in p1g herds.