Potential enterotoxicity and antimicrobial resistance pattern of Aeromonas species isolated from pet turtles and their environment

• Published in: Journal of Veterinary Medical Science 2017, Vol.79(5), pp.921-926
• Main Authors: S. H. M. P. WIMALASENA, SHIN, Gee-Wook, HOSSAIN, Sabrina, HEO, Gang-Joon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aeromonas - drug effects; Aeromonas - genetics; Aeromonas - pathogenicity; Aeromonas hydrophila - drug effects; Aeromonas hydrophila - genetics; Aeromonas hydrophila - pathogenicity; Aeromonas species; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use; antimicrobial resistance; Bacteriology; enterotoxin genes; Enterotoxins - genetics; Environmental Microbiology; Feces - microbiology; Genes, Bacterial - genetics; Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections - drug therapy; Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections - microbiology; Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections - veterinary; Microbial Sensitivity Tests - veterinary; pet turtles; Turtles - microbiology; yrB
• ISSN: 0916-7250; 1347-7439
• DOI: 10.1292/jvms.16-0493

To investigate the potential enterotoxicity and antimicrobial resistance of aeromonads from pet turtles as a risk for human infection, one hundred and two Aeromonas spp. were isolated from the feces, skin and rearing environments of pet turtles and identified by biochemical and gyrB sequence analyses. Aeromonas enteropelogenes was the predominant species among the isolates (52.9%) followed by A. hydrophila (32.4%), A. dharkensis (5.9%), A. veronii (4.9%) and A. caviae (3.9%). Their potential enterotoxicities were evaluated by PCR assays for detecting genes encoding cytotoxic enterotoxin (act) and two cytotonic enterotoxins (alt and ast). 75.8% of A. hydrophila isolates exhibited the act+/alt+/ast+ genotype, whereas 94.4% of A. enteropelogenes isolates were determined to be act−/alt−/ast−. In an antimicrobial susceptibility test, most isolates were susceptible to all tested antibiotics except amoxicillin, ampicillin, cephalothin, chloramphenicol and tetracycline. Non-susceptible isolates to penicillins (ampicillin and amoxicillin) and fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin) were frequently observed among the A. enteropelogenes isolates. Few isolates were resistant to imipenem, amikacin, ceftriaxone and cefotaxime. Collectively, these results suggest that pet turtles may pose a public health risk of infection by enterotoxigenic and antimicrobial resistant Aeromonas strains.