Salmonella serovars associated with Grenadian tree boa (Corallus grenadensis) and their antimicrobial susceptibility

• Published in: Veterinary medicine and science Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 565 - 569
• Main Authors: Rush, Elizabeth M., Amadi, Victor A., Johnson, Roger, Lonce, Nicholas, Hariharan, Harry
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-08-2020; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Acids; Amoxicillin; Ampicillin; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; antimicrobial susceptibility; Boidae; Cefotaxime; Ciprofloxacin; Clavulanic acid; Corallus grenadensis; Drug resistance; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; Enrofloxacin; Gender; Gentamicin; Grenada - epidemiology; Grenadian tree boa; Imipenem; Laboratories; Microbial Sensitivity Tests - veterinary; Nalidixic acid; Original; Prevalence; Quality control; Rainforests; Salmonella; Salmonella - classification; Salmonella - genetics; Salmonella - isolation & purification; Salmonella Infections, Animal - epidemiology; Salmonella Infections, Animal - microbiology; Serogroup; serovars; Snakes; Streptomycin; Studies; Sulfamethoxazole; Trees; Trimethoprim; Grenada; French Guiana; United States > US; Japan; Germany; Taiwan; antimicrobial susceptibility; Salmonella; Corallus grenadensis; serovars; Grenadian tree boa
• ISSN: 2053-1095; 2053-1095
• DOI: 10.1002/vms3.234

Cloacal swabs from 45 Grenada bank tree boas (Corallus grenadensis) were sampled during a 12‐month period (2011–2012) from the rain forests and scrublands of Grenada. Cloacal swabs were examined by enrichment and selective culture for the presence of Salmonella spp. In all, 16 (35.6%) of the snakes were positive for Salmonella, and six serovars of Salmonella were isolated. The most common serovar was Rubislaw (31.3%), the most frequent serovar recently isolated from green iguanas in Grenada, followed by serovar Braenderup (18.8%), and serovar IV:48:g,z51:‐ (formerly, S. Marina) (18.8%), also found in green iguanas in this country. The remaining three less frequent serovars were, IV:53:g,z51:‐, I:6,7:e,h:‐ and IIIb:38:i:z. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests conducted by a disc diffusion method against amoxicillin–clavulanic acid, ampicillin, cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, gentamicin, imipenem, nalidixic acid, streptomycin, tetracycline and trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole showed that drug resistance is minimal, with intermediate susceptibility, only to streptomycin. This is the first report of isolation and antimicrobial susceptibilities of Salmonella serovars from wild Grenadian tree boas.
To understand the epidemiology of salmonellosis, it is important to know about the actual serovar prevalence in animals including wildlife.