Salmonella enterica isolates from faeces of domestic reptiles and a study of their antimicrobial in vitro sensitivity.
From October 2001 to February 2002, the faecal samples of 305 reptiles (165 saurians, 99 ophidians and 41 chelonians) were bacteriologically examined to detect Salmonella enterica. S. enterica was isolated from 73 (23.93%) faecal samples including 44 (60.27%) samples collected from saurians, 15 (20.55%) from chelonians and 14 (19.18%) from ophidians; considering the number of samples taken for each reptile group, S. enterica was isolated from the 36.58% of chelonians, 26.66% of saurians and 14.14% of ophidians. The isolates were distributed among 38 serotypes. Sixty-nine (94.52%) isolates were resistant to erythromycin. About one-third of the isolates was resistant to sulfisoxazole (35.61%), gentamycin (32.88%), amoxycillin (31.51%) and ampicillin (27.40%). All but one of the isolates were sensitive to chloramphenicol. A high percentages of isolates were sensitive to enrofloxacin (84.93%), nitrofurantoin (80.82%), trimethoprim (76.71%) and tetracycline (75.34%).
Ebani
V V
VV
Department of Animal Pathology, Prophylaxis and Food Hygiene, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy. vebani@vet.unipi.it
Cerri
D
D
Fratini
F
F
Meille
N
N
Valentini
P
P
Andreani
E
E
D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000382:microbiology; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D012104:Reptiles / Q000382:microbiology*; D012481:Salmonella Infections, Animal / Q000382:microbiology*; D019779:Salmonella enterica / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012703:Serotyping / Q000662:veterinary
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents