Determination of Conjunctival Microbial Flora in Clinically Normal Canine Conjunctiva from Several Selected Clinics in Tehran (Iran)
Department of clinical science, Faculty of Specialized Veterinary Medicine, Science and Research Campus of Islamic Azad University
Tehran, Iran
Introduction: This study focused on the determination of conjunctival microbial flora in normal dogs for investigating relations between factors like old, environment and breed that predispose conjunctivitis.
Material and Methods: Samples were obtained from both conjunctival sacs of 39 dogs of various breeds for aerobic and anaerobic cultures by moist sterile swabs. None of dogs suffered from eye diseases previously.
Results: No bacteria were seen in 20.5%, while a single isolate was obtained from 20.5% and in 59% of cases two to four species were isolated. these bacteria were include: positive coagulase Staphylococci 24%, negative coagulase Staphylococci 31%, alpha hemolytic Streptococci 18%, beta hemolytic Streptococci 5%, non hemolytic Streptococci 15.4%, Corynebacterium Spp. 18%, Coliform 10%, Spp.7.7%, Spp. 5% and I5%. No anaerobic was isolated in this study.
Conclusion: No significant difference was seen between both eyes. The most accumulation of bacteria was in mixed dogs (83%) and minimum level was in poodles (40%). Also in regard to keeping manner, the great number of bacteria was seen in dogs that were kept in gardens (93.3%) and the less was seen in house- keeping dogs (69%). Also the most number of bacteria was seen in dogs above 2 years old (100%).
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