Dogs and Cats: Reservoirs for Highly Diverse and a Potential Source of Human Exposure.

Assessing the carriage of in animal reservoirs is essential to better understand epidemiology. Here, we evaluated the prevalence of thermophilic . in dogs and cats, hereafter defined as pets, and characterized ( isolates to assess their genetic diversity and their potential link with isolates from other animals or human cases. During a 6-month period, 304 feces samples were collected from pets. A significantly higher prevalence of thermophilic . was found in dogs compared with cats, as well as in dogs ≤ 1-year-old compared with older dogs. was the predominant species found in pets, and its genomic characterization revealed a high genetic diversity. Genotypes comparison with previously characterized isolates revealed a partial overlap between isolates from pets, chicken, cattle, and clinical cases. This overlap suggests the potential role of livestock and humans in pets' exposure to , or vice versa. The isolation of pets' specific profiles may suggest the existence of other sources of pet contamination or imply that pets may constitute a reservoir for . Because of the proximity between humans and pets, along with their frequent carriage of , human exposure to from pets can be more important than previously thought.