title: Culturable Aerobic and Facultative Anaerobic Intestinal Bacterial Flora of Black Cobra (Naja naja karachiensis) in Southern Pakistan.
abstract: Using morphological analysis and biochemical testing, here for the first time, we determined the culturable gut bacterial flora (aerobes and facultative anaerobes) in the venomous Black Cobra (Naja naja karachiensis) from South Asia. The findings revealed that these snakes inhabit potentially pathogenic bacteria including Serratia marcescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shewanella putrefaciens, Aeromonas hydrophila, Salmonella sp., Moraxella sp., Bacillus sp., Ochrobactrum anthropi, and Providencia rettgeri. These findings are of concern, as injury from snake bite can result in wound infections and tissue necrosis leading to sepsis/necrotizing fasciitis and/or expose consumers of snake meat/medicine in the community to infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Junaid
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Mehwish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sagheer
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Aga Khan University, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Nazneen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tabassum
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Ruqaiyyah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Naveed Ahmed
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Khan