Bacteriological Analysis of a Lethal Outbreak of Pasteurella canis in Spotted Deer ( Axis Axis ) in a Zoological Park in Bareilly, India

The microbiological investigation of deaths of six spotted deer ( Axis axis ) in three days in a zoological park in Bareilly, India revealed Pasteurella canis of resistotype B (resistant to cotrimoxazole, enrofloxacin, meropenem, cefoxitin and erythromycin) as the cause of the disease as it was isolated from heart blood of all the six dead deer. However, from the same herd of the deer four different resistotypes (A, B, C, D) of P. canis were detected, but type A, C and D were detected from 5, 2 and 1 deer, respectively. Of the 20 isolates of P. canis from deer 12 had multiple drug-resistance (MDR) and 11 were resistant to meropenem also. The six isolates from three of the ten stray dogs in the vicinity of the park harboured P. canis in their oral cavity but all isolates belonged to resistotype E (resistant to erythromycin only) indicating that the lethal strain of P. canis isolated from spotted deer had a different origin than stray dogs. Enrofloxacin therapy in a sick deer failed to protect that but the incorporation of doxycycline (2 mg/ mL) in water was successful in preventing the deaths and illness in deer of the zoological park.