PREVALENCE OF ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA ASSOCIATED WITH THE RED-EARED SLIDER (TRACHEMYS SCRIPTA ELEGANS)

Free-ranging Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) were captured from farm ponds located in the Flint Hills of Kansas and a zoo pond in Emporia, Kansas, USA, to evaluate their enteric bacterial flora and associated antibiotic resistance. Bacteria obtained from cloacal swabs were composed of six different Gramnegative genera. Although antibiotic resistance was present in turtles captured from both locations, 40 and 49% of bacteria demonstrated multiple antibiotic resistance to four of the antibiotics tested from the zoo captured and Flint Hills ponds turtles, respectively. These data illustrate environmental antibiotic resistance is widespread in the bacterial flora obtained from Red-eared Sliders in east central Kansas.

[1]  D. Andersson,et al.  Persistence of antibiotic resistance in bacterial populations. , 2011, FEMS microbiology reviews.

[2]  D. Morgan,et al.  Emergence of Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase-Producing Bacteria , 2011, Southern medical journal.

[3]  T. Goldberg,et al.  Prevalence of Salmonella in intestinal mucosal samples from free-ranging Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) in Illinois , 2010 .

[4]  P. Sauer,et al.  Antibiotic resistance of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia strains isolated from captive snakes , 2010, Folia Microbiologica.

[5]  V. Rotimi,et al.  Comparative in vitro activity of tigecycline and other antimicrobial agents against Shigella species from Kuwait and the United Arab of Emirates. , 2010, Journal of infection and public health.

[6]  T. Bottari,et al.  Antibiotic Resistance of Gram Negatives isolates from loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the central Mediterranean Sea. , 2009, Marine pollution bulletin.

[7]  J. Coats,et al.  Laboratory evaluation of mobility and sorption for the veterinary antibiotic, tylosin, in agricultural soils. , 2009, Journal of environmental monitoring : JEM.

[8]  D. Lung,et al.  Oral bacterial flora of the Chinese cobra (Naja atra) and bamboo pit viper (Trimeresurus albolabris) in Hong Kong SAR, China. , 2009, Hong Kong medical journal = Xianggang yi xue za zhi.

[9]  S. Dinçer,et al.  Antibacterial agents and heavy metal resistance in Gram-negative bacteria isolated from seawater, shrimp and sediment in Iskenderun Bay, Turkey. , 2008, The Science of the total environment.

[10]  Multistate outbreak of human Salmonella infections associated with exposure to turtles--United States, 2007-2008. , 2008, MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report.

[11]  P. Sauer,et al.  Stenotrophomonas maltophilia as a part of normal oral bacterial flora in captive snakes and its susceptibility to antibiotics. , 2007, Veterinary microbiology.

[12]  R. Cooper,et al.  Plasmid-Mediated High-Level Gentamicin Resistance among Enteric Bacteria Isolated from Pet Turtles in Louisiana , 2006, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[13]  Clinical,et al.  Performance standards for antimicrobial disk susceptibility tests : approved standard , 2006 .

[14]  H. Heuer,et al.  Gentamicin resistance genes in environmental bacteria: prevalence and transfer. , 2002, FEMS microbiology ecology.

[15]  C. Mendes,et al.  Multicenter evaluation of resistance patterns of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp and Shigella spp isolated from clinical specimens in Brazil: RESISTNET Surveillance Program. , 2001, The Brazilian journal of infectious diseases : an official publication of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases.

[16]  J. Quinn.  Clinical problems posed by multiresistant nonfermenting gram-negative pathogens. , 1998, Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

[17]  J. J. Farmer.  Enterobacteriaceae : introduction and identification , 1995 .

[18]  R. Gilbert,et al.  Salmonella colonization in commercial pet turtles (Pseudemys scripta elegans) , 1990, Epidemiology and Infection.

[19]  P. Heinzel,et al.  Antibiotic resistance by modification: Many resistance genes could be derived from cellular control genes in actinomycetes - a hypothesis , 1988 .

[20]  M. Fulton,et al.  INVESTIGATION OF THE ENTERIC BACTERIA OF THE TESTUDINATA — I: OCCURRENCE OF THE GENERA Arizona, Citrobacter, Edwardsiella and Salmonella , 1969, Wildlife disease.

[21]  J. Feeley,et al.  Salmonella excretion by turtles. , 1967, Public health reports.