Campy/obaeter jejlmi and C. coli arc frequent worldwide causes of footl-borne gastroenteritis inrnhumans. A study on the prevalencc of thcrmophilic Celllifly/obaeter specics frum thc carcusses ofrnslaughtered sheep and goats were undertaken at Hashim Nuru Jiru Ethiopia livestock and meatrnimport-exporter (HELM IX) export abattoir in Oebre-Zeit, Ethiopia from November 2007 to Aprilrn2008. A total of 218 sheep and 180 goat carcasses (398 totul sumplcs) were cxamincd fcoinrncarcass swabs taken from crutch, abdomcn, thorux and breust areas. Frum. cuch slaughtcredrnanimal, carcass swab was taken only from one of these sites on the carcass but each swabbing siternwas swabbed for three different operations in the abattoir namely before evisceration, afterrnevisceration and after washing. A total of 654 swab samples were collected from 218 sheeprncarcasses comprised of 56 crutch swabs, 49 abdomen swabs, 50 thorax swabs and 63 breastrnswabs before evisceration, after evisceration and after. washing. Similarly, 540 swabs from 180rngoat carcasses were collected consisting of 52 crutch swabs, 46 abdomen swabs. 42 thorax swnbsrnand 40 breast swabs from each of the three slaughter operations. Thus from the three operations arntotal of 1194 swabs were analyzed. Bacteriological analysis of the samples was conducted in thernMicrobiology laboratory, Faculty of Veterinury Medicine, Dehre-Zcit flllluwing the techniquesrnrecommended by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO, 2002).rnFrom a total of 398 carcasses examined, 40 carcasses were positive for Campylobactcr withrncontamination rate of 10%. Per species contamination rate with either C. jejzmi or C. coli werern10.6% (n=218) and 9.4% (n=180) for sheep and goat carcasses respectively. However,rnstatistically significant difference was not detected in the rate of carcass contamination betweenrnsheep and goat carcasses (p=0.72). The most prevalent thermophilic .C ampylob(lcter speciesrnrecovered from the sheep and goat carcasses was C. jejl/Ili accounting for 7.3% (n=398),rnfollowed by C. coli 2.7% (n= 398). Out of the 40 positive samples the proportion of thernC~pylobacter species was 72.5% and 27.5% for C. jejl/Ill and C. coli respectively. Thisrnvariation in the isolation rate between the two Campylobacter species was slutistically significantrn(P:=O.003). Though there was no statistically significant difTcrence (1'=0.57) in the rate of carcassrncontamination among the four swabbing sites, the highest contamination rate was observed in thernbreast area at a rate of 12.6% (n=103) followed by abdomen with contamination rate of 11.6%rn(n=95). Hilihest rate of carcass contamination was observed after evisceration as compared tornprior evisceration and after washing (p=O.OOO). Washing of the carcass did not reduce carcasscontmnination in the slaughtered shcep (x,2=O. 18; P=O.68). however there was n substantialrnreduction in the level of curcuss contllJlli.mtiulI uOcr wushing in gmit e .. reusses Â«x,2;,;; 10.72:rnP=O.OOI).rn'Ine present study revealed the existence of severe cross contuminutiun during shlllghierrnoperations particularly during evisceration. Carcass contamination by Campylobacter can bernreduced, and thus its public health impact, through good hygienic practices in the ub.lltoir.rnKeywords: Abattoir, C.jejrmi, C. coli, Debre-Zeit, Ethiopia, sheep and goat carcass.rnx