José Rafael Modolo; Rogerio Giuffrida
Disciplina de Panejamento de Saúde Animal e Veterinária Preventiva do Departamento de Higiene Veterinária e Saúde Pública da Faculdade de Medicina Vetrinária e Zootecnia da Universidade do Estado de São Paulo, Botucatu, SP
Dear Editor,
Campylobacter upsaliensis is considered a human enteropathogen associated with diarrhea and bacteremia3 7 8 12 14 15. This is an atypical species of Campylobacter genus as it is thermophilic, weakly catalase-positive, and generally sensitive to cephalosporins. Immunosuppressive factors seem to be of major importance in triggering the disease 5 11 16. Cats and dogs are considered the major carriers for humans4 7 17, more frequently in under 12-month-old dogs4. In Brazil, studies on dogs as potential C. upsaliensis carriers for humans are scarce. We studied the isolation frequency in 100 dogs with diarrhea and 100 dogs without diarrhea; all animals were less than 12 months old.
Dog feces were submitted to two parallel procedures: 1) filtration technique – one gram of feces was suspended in a test tube with 9ml saline solution, vigorously homogenized for 1 min, centrifuged at 2,500 rpm for 5 min, and filtered using 0.65mM cellulose acetate membrane filter. Three drops from this filtrate were grown on Petri dishes in sodium thioglycolate agar supplemented with 20% bovine blood and incubated at 37ºC, 2) Direct growth – one aliquot of feces was grown in smears in the same agar with Butzler selective supplementation (bacitracin, novobiocin, cycloheximide, colistin and cefazoline) and incubated at 43ºC. In both procedures, the plates were examined with a phase-contrast microscope (1000 X) for morphological evaluation of vibrion characteristics and typical spirillum movement. After presumptive diagnosis, these colonies were replicated in Tarozzi medium and incubated at 37ºC for 72 hours to obtain the inoculum, with density adjusted to 1 MacFarland standard turbidity (3×108 CFU/mL). Definitive diagnosis was made using biochemical characteristics from following tests10: catalase (-) and hippuricase production (-); growth at 43ºC (+), 25 oC (-), in 1% glycine (-), and in 3.5% NaCl (-); resistance to nalidixic acid (-) and cephalothin (-); production of H2S with (-) or without cysteine (-); and tolerance to 2’3’5’triphenyltetrazoline chloride (-). The animals with diarrhea showed 3 (3%) C. upsaliensis strains and the diarrhea-free 2 (2%). Our results were relatively lower than other data in literature, suggesting heterogeneity of this bacterium isolation frequency 2 4 9. To increase the possibility of C. upsaliensis detection, a filtration technique should be used on a routine basis; as has already been reported13. C. upsaliensis isolation from dogs highlights the risk of zoonosis, especially in Brazil, although no reports were found in literature.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de São Paulo for financial support and Ms. Tânia Maria Martins and Adriana Cristina Pavan Vieira for their valuable technical assistance.
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Correspondence to
Dr José Rafael Modolo
Caixa Postal 524
18618-000 Botucatu, SP
Tel: 14 6802-6270, Fax: 14 6802-6075
E-mail: jrmodolo@fmvz.unesp.br
Recebido para publicação em 14/8/2002
Aceito em 13/11/2003
Supported by grants from FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo)
