Korean J Vet Res.  2011 Sep;51(3):243-247.

Aerobic bacteria from oral cavities and cloaca of snakes in a petting zoo

• Jho YS
• Park DH
• Lee JH
• Lyoo YS

Abstract

It is important to identify the bacteria in snakes because they can cause disease; importantly, bacteria such as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris etc. could be pathogens especially in hospitalized, debilitated hosts, and immunocompromised patients. To analyze the distribution of snakes' bacteria in petting zoo, samples from 20 snakes were collected from 2002 to 2008. Nine bacteria species were isolated from both oral and cloaca while four and six species were identified only from oral and cloaca, respectively. Except for Actinobacter sp., all of the identified strains are opportunistic pathogens, and most of them can cause nosocomial infections in humans. Present results indicate that prevalence of various zoonotic bacterial strains in snakes could be involved in potential transfer of these bacteria into caretakers and other animals. Therefore, it needs to examine the antibiotic resistance of these pathogens to prevent outbreaks.

Keyword

bacteria; opportunistic infection; petting zoo; snake; zoonosis

MeSH Terms

Animals
Bacteria
Bacteria, Aerobic
Cloaca
Cross Infection
Disease Outbreaks
Drug Resistance, Microbial
Escherichia coli
Humans
Immunocompromised Host
Opportunistic Infections
Prevalence
Proteus vulgaris
Snakes
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia