A survey on Campylobacter and Yersinia spp. occurrence in sea and river waters in Northern Greece

Four strains of Campylobacter jejuni and seven strains of Yersinia intermedia were isolated from 200 samples from three bathing areas which complied with the EC directive concerning the standard values for total coliforms, faecal coliforms and faecal streptococci during the bathing season from May to October 1990. In the same period seven C. jejuni and five Y. intermedia strains were isolated from 41 samples from three rivers which did not meet the criteria for the imperative values of the indicator bacteria set by the EC directive. The geometric mean of total coliforms was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the Campylobacter-positive than the negative sea samples. Yersinia-positive and -negative sea samples differed in the geometric means (P < 0.05) of faecal coliforms.