Beschreibung:
<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title>
<jats:p>
Sheep and goats are popular examples of livestock kept on city farms. In these settings, close contacts between humans and animals frequently occur. Although it is widely accepted that small ruminants can carry numerous zoonotic agents, it is unknown which of these agents actually occur in sheep and goats on city farms in Germany. We sampled feces and nasal liquid of 48 animals (28 goats, 20 sheep) distributed in 7 city farms and on one activity playground in southern Germany. We found that 100% of the sampled sheep and 89.3% of the goats carried Shiga toxin-producing
<jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Escherichia coli</jats:named-content>
(STEC). The presence of
<jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Staphylococcus</jats:named-content>
spp. in 75% of both sheep and goats could be demonstrated.
<jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Campylobacter</jats:named-content>
spp. were detected in 25% and 14.3% of the sheep and goats, respectively. Neither
<jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Salmonella</jats:named-content>
spp. nor
<jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Coxiella burnetii</jats:named-content>
was found. On the basis of these data, we propose a reasonable hygiene scheme to prevent transmission of zoonotic agents during city farm visits.
</jats:p>