Isolation and identification of bacterial populations of zoonotic importance from captive non-venomous snakes in Malaysia

Microbial Pathogenesis Volume 108, July 2017, Pages 49-54 Microbial Pathogenesis YusufAbbaa. Yusuf MainaIlyasua..Mustapha MohamedNoordina. Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor D.E, Malaysia b Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, PMB 1069, Maiduguri 600233, Borno State, Nigeria Received 2 April 2017, Revised 25 April 2017, Accepted 26 April 2017, Available online 4 May 2017. crossmark-logo Show less https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micpath.2017.04.038Get rights and content Highlights • Gram negative bacteria constituted up to 82%–100% of all isolates in python, anaconda and boa. • Aeromonas spp and Salmonella spp were the most frequently isolated bacteria in the visceral organs of necropsied snakes. • Presence of multiple infections was more common (81.5%) than single infection in the python and anaconda. • There was no difference (p > 0.05) in the incidence of common bacterial species isolated from python and boa. Abstract Aim Captivity of non-venomous snakes such as python and boa are common in zoos, aquariums and as pets in households. Poor captivity conditions expose these reptiles to numerous pathogens which may result in disease conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the common bacteria isolated from necropsied captive snakes in Malaysia over a five year period. Materials and methods A total of 27 snake carcasses presented for necropsy at the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) were used in this survey. Samples were aseptically obtained at necropsy from different organs/tissues (lung, liver, heart, kindey, oesophagus, lymph node, stomach, spinal cord, spleen, intestine) and cultured onto 5% blood and McConkey agar, respectively. Gram staining, morphological evaluation and biochemical test such as oxidase, catalase and coagulase were used to tentatively identify the presumptive bacterial isolates. Results Pythons had the highest number of cases (81.3%) followed by anaconda (14.8%) and boa (3.7%). Mixed infection accounted for 81.5% in all snakes and was highest in pythons (63%). However, single infection was only observed in pythons (18.5%). A total of 82.7%, 95.4% and 100% of the bacterial isolates from python, anaconda and boa, respectively were gram negative. Aeromonas spp was the most frequently isolated bacteria in pythons and anaconda with incidences of 25 (18%) and 8 (36.6%) with no difference (p > 0.05) in incidence, respectively, while Salmonella spp was the most frequently isolated in boa and significantly higher (p < 0.05) than in python and anaconda. Bacteria species were most frequently isolated from the kidney of pythons 35 (25.2%), intestines of anacondas 11 (50%) and stomach of boa 3 (30%). Conclusion This study showed that captive pythons harbored more bacterial species than anaconda or boa. Most of the bacterial species isolated from these snakes have public health importance and have been incriminated in human infections worldwide. Keywords Captive snakesBacteriaZoonoticInfectionPublic health