title: Prevalence, serovars, and antimicrobial susceptibility of Salmonella isolated from blue land crabs (Cardisoma guanhumi) in Grenada, West Indies.
abstract: Samples of intestine and hepatopancreas from 65 blue land crabs (Cardisoma guanhumi), a crustacean commonly consumed as a food item in Grenada, were collected from six geographic sites in Grenada and tested for Salmonella by enrichment and selective culture. The individual animal prevalence of Salmonella based on isolation was 17% (11 of 65), and all infected crabs were from three of the six sampled locations. Isolates were identified by serotyping as Salmonella enterica serovars Saintpaul (n = 6), Montevideo (n = 4), and Newport (n = 1). The intestines of all 11 infected crabs were positive for Salmonella, but only 7 of 11 hepatopancreas samples were positive for Salmonella, and these isolates were the same serovar as isolated from the matching intestine. These three Salmonella serovars are known to cause human illness in many countries, and in the Caribbean Salmonella Saintpaul has been frequently isolated from humans. In a disc diffusion assay, all isolates were susceptible to all 11 drugs tested: amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, ampicillin, cephalothin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, imipenem, neomycin, streptomycin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. To our knowledge, this report is the first concerning isolation and antimicrobial susceptibilities of Salmonella serotypes from the blue land crab.
authors.affiliation: Pathobiology Academic Program, School of Veterinary Medicine, St. George's University, University Centre, St. George's True Blue Campus, Grenada, West Indies.
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: Harry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hariharan
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Matthew
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chappell
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Andravindra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003386:Brachyura / Q000382:microbiology*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D005516:Food Microbiology; D019425:Grenada / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012475:Salmonella / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012703:Serotyping; D012758:Shellfish / Q000382:microbiology*