engleski

Bacterial and fungal flora of western caspian turtles (Mauremys rivulata)

The Western Caspian turtle (Mauremys rivulata), also known as Balkan pond turtle, from the family Geoemydidae, is a turtle species spread throughout the world. Due to the habitat loss and competition with other turtle species, the western Caspian turtle is one of the most endangered and rarest reptile species in Croatia. Since the information about the health condition and pathogens which can push this species even more to extinction is very scarce, we have examined and swabbed a group of animals confiscated at the Croatia - Bosnia & Herzegovina border and situated at the quarantine facility of Zagreb Zoo. Oral cavity and cloacal swabs were taken from six animals after manual restraint and the samples were plated on different non-selective and selective agars, and incubated under aerobic conditions at 37oC for 24 hrs for detection of aerobic bacteria. Cloacal swabs were additionally enriched with Selenite cysteine broth for Salmonella detection, while the cloacal swabs for Campylobacter detection were plated on mCCDA broth and incubated under microaerophylic conditions for 48 hrs. For fungal detection, oral cavity and cloacal swabs were plated on Sabouraud dextrose agar, and incubated at the room temperature for five days. In total, seven bacterial species were isolated from the oral cavity, with one isolate from each animal. Eight bacterial species were isolated from cloaca, with the predominance of Escherichia coli, isolated from all tested animals. All of the animals were negative to Salmonella sp., while one animal was suspected for Campylobacter sp. so that further tests are underway. Regarding fungal isolates, only Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated from one cloacal sample. The results obtained are similar to those previously reported for bacteria and fungi in reptiles. Due to the small sample size and scarce information for this particular species, further research is needed.

Mauremys rivulata, bacteria, fungi

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