Abstract

In order to establish the prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli, 300 fecal samples obtained from hens in three different geographical places (Loncoche, Valdivia and Puerto Montt cities) from Southern Chile were studied. The prevalence of the thermotolerant species of Campylobacter was 25.7%, being Campylobacter jejuni isolated with a frequency of 76.6% and C. coli with 23.4%. Only two of the four biotypes of C. jejuni were found, being biotype II the most frequent one (68.8%). The two biotypes described for C. coli were isolated, and biotype II was also the most frequent (68.8%).