Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Rearing Seawater

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance of microorganisms is a serious health problem for both humans and animals. Infection of these bacteria may result in therapy failure, leading to high mortality rates. During an early intervention program process, the Sea Turtle Conservation Center of Thailand (STCCT) has faced high mortality rates due to bacterial infection. Previously, investigation of juvenile turtle carcasses found etiological agents in tissue lesions. Further determination of sea water in the turtle holding tanks revealed a prevalence of these causative agents in water samples, implying association of bacterial isolates in rearing water and infection in captive turtles. In this study, we examined the antibiotic resistance of bacteria in seawater from the turtle holding tank for a management plan of juvenile turtles with bacterial infection. The examination was carried out in three periods: 2015 to 2016, 2018, and 2019. The highest isolate numbers were resistant to beta-lactam, whilst low aminoglycoside resistance rates were observed. No gentamicin-resistant isolate was detected. Seventy-nine isolates (71.17%) were resistant to at least one antibiotic. Consideration of resistant bacterial and antibiotic numbers over three sampling periods indicated increased risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to sea turtle health. Essentially, this study emphasizes the importance of antibiotic-resistant bacterial assessment in rearing seawater for sea turtle husbandry.

Antimicrobial Resistance in Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta): A Comparison between Clinical and Commensal Bacterial Isolates

“…Regarding the aminoglycosides, the high percentage of resistance in clinical isolates is in line with a recent study by Chuen-Im and coauthors [ 68 ], but is in contrast with other findings [ 4 , 26 ]. Currently, aminoglycosides are used to treat Gram negative infections (such as Acinetobacter baumannii , Enterobacteriaceae , Escherichia coli , Klebsiella pneumoniae , and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ) in human medicine or as a second choice of treatment for MDR bacteria.…”

“…We tested two molecules of this class because it is well documented that the resistance against fluoroquinolones is closely related with the specific classes of molecules and the single molecule cannot mirror the entire category. Moreover, fluoroquinolones are one of the few therapeutic options for sea turtles [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ].…”

“…Sea turtles are often considered to be an extremely resilient species, capable of contrasting a plethora of physical, chemical and biological insults [ 17 ]. The level of AMR rates reported from different studies on sea turtle populations is extremely variable among countries [ 68 , 69 ]. Therefore, antimicrobial susceptibility testing is recommended to guide the treatment of any bacterial infections [ 24 ].…”

Pharmacokinetic characteristics of florfenicol in green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) after intramuscular administration

“…The frequent pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria in sea turtles include Vibrio spp., Pseudomonas spp., Aeromonas spp., Salmonella spp., Bacillus spp., Chlamydia spp., Mycobacterium spp., Brucella spp., Citrobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, Edwardsiella spp., Streptococcus spp., and Staphylococcus spp. (Chuen-Im et al, 2021;Ebani, 2023). They are causative agents of respiratory system infections in sea turtles (Bennett, 2011;Ebani, 2023).…”