It is important for public health to monitor infectious agents in domestic animals. This study aimed to detect of bacterial and fungal agents in the skin of various domestic animals. A total of 263 skin samples were collected during 2021-2023 from 147 cats, 102 dogs, 10 cows, 3 rabbits, and 1 iguana. Bacteriological examination indicated that 37.6% of the samples were positive. S. pseudintermedius (35.4%) was the dominant bacteria in all isolates, followed by P. aeruginosa (23.2%). S. aureus was isolated from one rabbit sample and P. aeruginosa from one iguana sample. These findings add to the limited number of studies on these species. As a result of mycological examinations, 61.6% of all samples were identified as positive by cultural examination. Saprophytes were found in 41.1% of all samples, specifically A. niger (30.6%), Penicillium spp. (28.7%), A. fumigatus (16.7%), Alternaria spp. (15.7%), Mucor spp. (4.6%), and A. flavus (3.7%). The high prevalence of saprophytes was correlated with environmental contamination. Dermatophytes were isolated in 20.5% of all samples. M. canis was the dominant dermatophyte (64.8%), followed by T. mentagrophytes (31.5%) and M. ferrugineum (3.7%). The higher prevalence of dermatophytosis in spring (51.9%), was associated with rainy seasonal conditions in Turkey.

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Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium are the most common serovars observed in human salmonellosis while contaminated poultry products are the major source of Salmonella transmission to humans. Therefore, high pathogenicity of poultry-originated S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium strains poses a serious risk to human health. This study analyzed the virulence genes of broiler chicken-originated S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium strains. SipA, sipD, sopB, sopD, sopE, sopE2, sitC, sifA, ssaR, spvC and pefA genes were investigated in a total of 137 strains consisting of 105 S. Enteritidis and 32 S. Typhimurium. Nine strains (6.6%) had all genes. No negative strain was detected for all genes. SopE was found in all strains (100%). SitC (89.1%), ssaR (83.9%), sipA (70.1%), sipD (73.0%), sopE2 (68.6%), spvC (68.6%) and pefA (73.0%) were also highly prevalent. Noticeable differences were observed between serovars in terms of sopE2, spvC and pefA prevalence: 77.1%, 80% and 82.9%, respectively, of S. Enteritidis strains were sopE2, spvC and pefA positive while 40.6%, 31.3% and 40.6% of S. Typhimurium strains were positive. This finding indicates that S. Enteritidis is more frequent than S. Typhimurium in poultry populations thanks to higher virulence. Based on virulence gene distribution, the strains were divided into 44 different virulence genotypes, with the major genotype 4 (15.3%) carrying 8 of the 11 genes. The majority of strains (75.9%) were positive for at least 6 genes. S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium strains were highly virulent and pose a threat as a zoonotic infection.

In this study, Salmonella Enteritidis strains isolated from dust and environmental materials from different flocks located in Turkey’s Western Black Sea region were examined by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). A total of 59 S. Enteritidis strains isolated from broiler breeder and hatchery flocks, and one S. Enteritidis strain isolated from a stool sample of a farm worker were examined. PFGE analysis revealed two major PFGE groups and nine different macro restriction profiles. It was determined that 85% (51/60) of the strains were close to each other and comprised Group I. All S. Enteritidis strains had the same sequence type (ST): ST11. Isolation of strains with a single genotype suggests that there may be a cross transmission between the flocks.