To investigate the epidemiological trait of intestinal diseases of animals caused by thermophilic Campylobacter spp., isolation of etiological agent was carried out. Isolated Campylobacter spp. were biotyped, serotyped and the susceptibility of the isolates to antimicrobial agents were examined. Isolation rates of Campylobacter spp. from 649 fecal materials of 208 cattle, 300 pigs and 141 chickens were 25.5 %, 23.7 % and 38.3 %, respectively. The majority of the 130 isolates of C jejuni was classified as biotype I (50.6 %) and biotype II (34.6 %). Most of the 46 isolates of C coli were biotype I (71.7 %). Isolated C jejuni strains showed 14 different serotype, and serotype 4, 26, 36 were most frequent. Isolated C coli strains showed 5 different serotype and serotype 31 and 21 were relatively common. Isolated Campylobacter spp. were highly susceptible to nalidixic acid, amikacin, gentamycin, colistin and chlorampehnicol

A total of 108 strains of C jejuni isolated from pigs and chickens were examined for the susceptibility to 10 antimicrobial agents and normal sera of cattle, sheep, guinea pigs and chickens. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranges of antimicrobial agents to C jejuni isolates were = 100 micro g/ml for erythromycin, rifamycin, streptomycin and tetracycline, 50 to 100 micro g for cephalothin, = 50 micro g for ampicillin,

To investigate the epidemiological trait of intestinal diseases of animals caused by thermophilic Campylobacter spp., isolation of etiological agent was carried out and the profiles of plasmids and the transfer of resistance plasmid in the isolated Camplyobacter spp. were examined. A total of 110 isolates of C jejuni and C coli were subjected to the test for the presence of plasmid DNA. Of the isolates examined, 60 % of the isolates were noted to harbor plasmid DNA. Plasmid occurrence rate from pigs, chickens and cattle were 76.2 %, 61.7 % and 37.7 %, respectively. The plasmids of a large molecular weight, ranging from 36 Md to 86Md, were identified with the strains of tetracycline resistant. Transfer frequency of tetracycline resistant plasmids was higher in the case of the filter mating method than in the broth mating method by the factor of 10-1,000. Tetracycline resistant plasmids of C jejuni were transferarble to C jejuni and C coli by conjugation. In a low frequency, the transfer of tetracycline plasmid was also possible to Vibrio parahemolyticus. However, it was impossible to transfer to Streptococcus fecalis, E. coli and Vibrio cholerae. Tetracycline resistant plasmids of C jejuni were impossible to transfer to Campylobacter spp. and related bacteria by transformation