title: Physicochemical Properties Influencing Presence of Burkholderia pseudomallei in Soil from Small Ruminant Farms in Peninsular Malaysia.
abstract: Soil is considered to be a major reservoir of Burkholderia pseudomallei in the environment. This paper investigates soil physicochemical properties that may influence presence of B. pseudomallei in soil samples from small ruminant farms in Peninsular Malaysia. Soil samples were collected from the farms and cultured for B. pseudomallei. The texture, organic matter and water contents, pH, elemental contents, cation exchange capacities, carbon, sulfur and nitrogen contents were determined. Analysis of soil samples that were positive and negative for B. pseudomallei using multivariable logistic regression found that the odds of bacterial isolation from soil was significantly higher for samples with higher contents of iron (OR = 1.01, 95%CI = 1.00-1.02, p = 0.03), water (OR = 1.28, 95%CI = 1.05-1.55, p = 0.01) and clay (OR = 1.54, 95%CI = 1.15-2.06, p = 0.004) compared to the odds of isolation in samples with lower contents of the above variables. These three factors may have favored the survival of B. pseudomallei because iron regulates expression of respiratory enzymes, while water is essential for soil ecology and agent's biological processes and clay retains water and nutrients.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.|Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Hassan Ismail
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4471-3761
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Musa
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Latiffah
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hassan
authors.affiliation: Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Zulkifli Hj
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Shamsuddin
authors.affiliation: Veterinary Research Institute, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Chandrawathani
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Panchadcharam
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Zunita
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zakaria
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Saleha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abdul Aziz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016957:Burkholderia pseudomallei / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008296:Malaysia; D012418:Ruminants; D012988:Soil Microbiology