Conjunctival bacterial and fungal flora and cutaneous fungal flora in healthy domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Abstract

Objectives To determine the normal conjunctival bacterial and fungal flora in healthy rabbits, to compare the fungal flora from the conjunctival sac with periocular cutaneous fungal flora and to evaluate potential changes in type of micro‐organisms over time. Materials and Methods Samples from 50 pet rabbits with a normal ophthalmic examination were obtained from conjunctival sacs using sterile cotton swabs and from the interpupillary skin space using a piece of sterile carpet. Samples were collected twice, 4 weeks apart, and cultured to evaluate bacterial and fungal populations. Results Bacteria were recovered from 35.9% of conjunctival swabs. Corynebacterium species (32.4%), Staphylococcus species (18.3%), Pasteurella species (9.9%) and Moraxella species (8.5%) were the most frequently isolated organisms. Fungi were recovered from 14.6% of conjunctival swabs. The most common fungal genera were Aspergillus (37%), Scopulariopsis (14.8%) and Penicillium (11.1%). Fungal cultures from periocular integument yielded positive results in 96.3% of samples; the same fungal organism was isolated in both conjunctival and cutaneous culture in nine of 20 rabbits (45%). When comparing results 4 weeks apart in 32 of 50 animals, only three rabbits with a positive bacterial culture and one rabbit with a positive fungal culture had the same result at the subsequent test. Clinical Significance Fungi and bacteria isolated from the conjunctival sac of rabbits may represent transient seeding from the environment. To our knowledge, this is the first report of fungal composition of the conjunctival sac of rabbits and evaluation of the potential transient nature of both bacterial and fungal composition of this conjunctival flora.

Tear Production, Intraocular Pressure, Ultrasound Biometric Features and Conjunctival Flora Identification in Clinically Normal Eyes of Two Italian Breeds of Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus)

“…These features could explain their low prevalence [59] considering that the chickens in our study live outdoors and probably there are no environmental conditions for the stabilization of the fungi in the conjunctival sac. Fungi have been more frequently isolated from horses [60][61][62][63][64], donkeys [65,66], cattle [67], dogs [68], rabbits [69], turtles, and tortoises [70] and the genera and species recovered seem to reflect a transient seeding from the environment.…”

Detection of Fungi Associated with Ocular Infections of Bovine

“…In recent studies to isolate and identify conjunctival bacterial and fungal The most frequent fungal isolates were saprophytic fungi (Bourguet et al, 2019) in rabbits, (Khosravi et al, 2014) in horses, in addition of human (Shivaji et al, 2019;Ge et al, 2019). The aims of the present paper were to identify and quantify the fungi in clinically normal cattle and determine the percentage of fungal species associated with ocular infections of bovine.…”

Buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) mycotic eye infection: reported herd cases in Thi-Qar province, Iraq

“…Many factors, such as environment, age, geography, habitat, season, and husbandry have been reported to influence the composition of conjunctival flora or low immunity (Ge et al, 2019;Johns et al, 2011). Studies regarding isolation and identification of conjunctival microorganism referred most frequently to saprophytic fungi in rabbits and horses, as well as humans (Bandyopadhyay et al, 2012;Bourguet et al, 2019;Ge et al, 2019;Khosravi et al, 2014;Kumar et al, 2019;Ledbetter, 2017;Shivaji et al, 2019). Fungi are widely prevalent microflora that occurs in soil, water, and air.…”