SUMMARYA survey of Campylobacter species in the faeces or rectal contents of domestic animals was carried out using direct and enrichment culture methods. Campylobacters were isolated from 259 (31 00) of 846 faecal specimens. The highest isolation rate was found in pigs (66 0o); lower rates were found in cattle (24 0/s) and sheep (22 %). In pigs all the isolates were C. coli, in sheep and cattle about 7500 were C. jejuni. Only five isolations of C.fetus subsp.fetus were made, all from cattle. More pigs with diarrhoea had C. coli in their faeces than healthy pigs (770 vs 470), but such a clear difference in isolation rate between sick and healthy animals was not seen in cattle or sheep.The enrichment method increased the total isolation rate of C. jejuni and C. coli by 330, but for cattle specimens it increased it by 690 (from 6-5 00 to 21 00).However, the enrichment method failed to detect 160% of positive specimens (mainly C. coli), so direct and enrichment methods should be used for the culture of campylobacters from animal faeces. The results show that cattle, sheep and pigs constitute a large potential source of campylobacter infection for man.

Five goat herds were examined to determine the prevalence and causes of subclinical mastitis and to assess the value of some laboratory tests currently used on milk samples as aids in the diagnosis of caprine mastitis. In the 170 samples taken from the pairs of mammary glands of 85 goats, the prevalence of infection in the different herds ranged from 15 per cent to 79 per cent of halves. Just over one-third (36 per cent) of all halves were infected, the organisms isolated being coagulase-negative staphylococci (80 per cent), coagulase-positive staphylococci (16 per cent), alpha-haemolytic streptococci (2 per cent) and Pasteurella haemolytica (2 per cent). Neither anaerobic organisms nor mycoplasmas were found. Tests confirmed that the coagulase-positive staphylococci were pathogens but that the coagulase-negative staphylococci rarely caused detectable disease in the caprine udder. The large between-herd variation in the geometric mean cell counts of uninfected milk samples means that somatic cell counts, the Whiteside test and the California mastitis test, are unreliable as aids in the diagnosis of caprine mastitis.

Two separate incidents of poisoning, one involving the death of 10 cattle and the other four sheep following the use of sodium monochloroacetate, were investigated. The cattle drank from a farmyard drain overflow which undissolved herbicide entered. Sheep had access to spilt herbicide by a standpipe. Sodium monochloroacetate appears to be equally toxic to both sheep and cattle. The need to follow the manufacturers' instructions is emphasised.

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