PREVALENCE OFSALMONELLAIN CAPTIVE REPTILES FROM CROATIA

Abstract

Salmonellosis transmitted by pet reptiles is an increasing public health issue worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Salmonella strains from captive reptiles in Croatia. From November 2009 to November 2011 a total of 292 skin, pharyngeal, cloacal, and fecal samples from 200 apparently healthy reptiles were tested for Salmonella excretions by bacteriologic culture and serotyping. These 200 individual reptiles included 31 lizards, 79 chelonians, and 90 snakes belonging to private owners or housed at the Zagreb Zoo, Croatia. Salmonella was detected in a total of 13% of the animals, among them 48.4% lizards, 8.9% snakes, and 3.8% turtles. Representatives of five of the six Salmonella enterica subspecies were identified with the following proportions in the total number of isolates: Salmonella enterica enterica 34.6%, Salmonella enterica houtenae 23.1%, Salmonella enterica arizonae 23.1%, Salmonella enterica diarizonae 15.4%, and Salmonella enterica salamae 3.8%. The 14 different serovars isolated included several rarely occurring serovars such as Salmonella Apapa, Salmonella Halle, Salmonella Kisarawe, and Salmonella Potengi. These findings confirm that the prevalence of Salmonella is considerable in captive reptiles in Croatia, indicating that these animals may harbor serovars not commonly seen in veterinary or human microbiologic practice. This should be addressed in the prevention and diagnostics of human reptile-transmitted infections.

Prevalence and characteristics of Salmonella species isolated from captive reptiles in the Czech Republic

“…The lowest positivity for Salmonella spp. in this study was found in chelonians, which is in agreement with the results of other authors (Chen et al 2010;Lukac et al 2015). The feed composition could contribute to the low prevalence observed.…”

“…prevalence was observed in lizards (25.6%), followed by snakes (17.6%) and chelonians (8%; Table 1). The prevalence rates in these groups of reptiles are consistent with the findings of other authors (De Sa and Solari 2001;Piasecki et al 2014;Lukac et al 2015). The increased diagnostic yield could be affected by the number of lizards as they constituted the largest group in this study (86/153), and many of them were examined repeatedly.…”

“…of about 19% in the studied reptiles. Available literature sources have reported varying levels of prevalence, namely, 54.1% in Germany and Austria (Geue and Loschner 2002), 32.6% in Poland (Piasecki et al 2014), 49% in Sweden (Wikstrom et al 2014), 13% in Croatia (Lukac et al 2015), 30.9% in Taiwan (Chen et al 2010) and 13.6% in Italy (Bertelloni et al 2016). Our results did not differ significantly from those obtained in other countries.…”

Oral and cloacal aerobic bacterial and fungal flora of free-living four-lined snakes (Elaphe quatuorlineata) from Croatia

“…None of the samples in this study were positive to Salmonella sp., otherwise very frequent finding in snakes (KUROKI et al, 2013;SCHEELINGS et al, 2011;STING et al, 2013;LUKAC et al, 2015) and a common cause of disease in humans. Low incidence of Salmonella was also described by SCHMIDT et al (2014) who reported 14.3% (8/56) Salmonella spp.…”

Free-living snakes as a source and possible vector of Salmonella spp. and parasites

“…That fact hampers research efforts unless the clinical threats occur (Mihalca et al 2010;Sting et al 2013). Definitely, wildlife snakes carry a broad range of bacteria and parasites that differs considerably by geographical locations and source species (Borkovcová and Kopřiva 2005;Fitzgerald et al 2013;Hacioglu and Tosunoglu 2014;Lukac et al 2015;Scheelings et al 2011;Schmidt et al 2014;Shimalov and Shimalov 2000). Salmonella spp., being considered natural component of reptile gut flora, is one of the most frequently noted (Goupil et al 2012;Kuroki et al 2013;Prapasarakul et al 2012;Richards et al 2004;Scheelings et al 2011).…”