title: Prevalence and Antibiogram study of Rhodococcus equi in equines of Jammu and Kashmir, India.
abstract: The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Rhodococcus equi infection in equines of Jammu and Kashmir, India, and evaluate the zoonotic threat posed by this organism to equine owners and tourists. One hundred and forty-one samples (98 samples from adult animals ≥5 years old and 43 samples from foals less than 6 months old) were collected in duplicate from nasopharyngeal tract of equines for isolation and direct PCR. A total of 12 isolates of R. equi were recovered, of which 9 were from foals and 3 from adult animals. Therefore, the present study recorded prevalence rates of 20.93% and 3.06% among foals and adult equines respectively. The prevalence rates were found to be 25.58% and 4.08% by 16S rRNA species-specific PCR among foals and adult animals respectively. Thus, the PCR-based assay was found to be more sensitive and helped in quick detection of R. equi than the culture based method which is time consuming and laborious. However, the culture-based method is still preferred due to some limitations of PCR. The antibiogram of the isolates revealed that erythromycin and rifampicin were the most effective antimicrobials with 100% sensitivity, followed by amoxicillin (66.67%), lincomycin (58.3%) and kanamycin (58.3%). The results also revealed that resistance was highest for penicillin G (50%), followed by kanamycin (25%) and streptomycin (25%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Biotechnology, College of Veterinary and Animal Science, Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner 334001, India.
authors.forename: Irfan Ahmad
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Mir
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Products, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh 243122, India.
authors.forename: Bablu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Division of Veterinary Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu 181102, India.
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taku
authors.affiliation: Division of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu 181102, India.
authors.forename: Rajinder Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Bhardwaj
authors.affiliation: Division of Veterinary Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu 181102, India.
authors.forename: Mohd Altaf
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bhat
authors.affiliation: Division of Veterinary Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu 181102, India.
authors.forename: Gulzar Ahmad
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Badroo
keywords: PCR; Rhodococcus equi; equine; prevalence
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