title: Aerobic bacterial flora of nesting green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica.
abstract: Bacteriological examination of 70 nesting green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica was performed to investigate nasal and cloacal aerobic bacteria. A total of 325 bacterial isolates were obtained, including 10 Gram-negative and three Gram-positive genera. Two hundred thirty-nine were Gram-negative and 86 were Gram-positive isolates. Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most common microbe identified in turtle samples: 27/70 (38.5%) in cloacal, and 33/70 (47.1%) in nasal samples. The Enterobacteriaceae family, including Enterobacter agglomerans, E. cloacae, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca, K. pneumoniae, and Serratia marcescens, was the largest Gram-negative group of bacteria recovered and comprised 127 of 239 (53.1%) of the Gram-negative isolates. Staphylococcus species was the largest Gram-positive bacteria group, including S. aureus, S. cromogenes, S. epidermis, and S. intermedius, and made up 63 of 86 (73.2%) of the Gram-positive isolates recovered. The results of this study demonstrate that the aerobic bacterial flora of nesting green turtles at Tortuguero National Park is composed of a very wide spectrum of bacteria, including several potential pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Patología, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional, P.O. Box 86, Heredia 3000, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santoro
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hernández
authors.forename: Magaly
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caballero
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001420:Bacteria, Aerobic / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002988:Cloaca / Q000382:microbiology; D003364:Costa Rica / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D009425:Nesting Behavior; D009666:Nose / Q000382:microbiology; D014426:Turtles / Q000382:microbiology*