Abstract

Antimicrobial drugs resistance has become a major problem in human and veterinary medicine practice as a consequence of the intensive, and sometimes, indiscriminate use of antimicrobial drugs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility of bacteria isolated at Sao Paulo Zoological Park Foundation from 2003 to 2006. We included 26 bacterial isolates recovered from reptiles, 35 bacterial isolates recovered from birds and 82 bacterial isolates recovered from mammals. Bacterial identification and the susceptibility tests (utilizing 14 antimicrobial drugs) were performed following international standards¹.

Of 143 isolates studied, 43.3% were characterized as Enterobacteriaceae (35.5% of Escherichia coli and 29% of Proteus spp.). The second major group consisted of Streptococcus spp. (22.4%) and Staphylococcus spp. (17.7%). More than 90% of the E. coli strains were susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfonamide, none were susceptible to penicillin and 1% to streptomycin. The majority of the non-Enterobacteriaceae isolates were susceptible to amoxicillin (79%), amikacin (63%) and ampicillin (63%). Around 50% of the strains were susceptible to most of the remaining antibiotics except that only 28.4% were susceptible to either penicillin or streptomycin. It is essential to perform culture and sensitivity testing when choosing antimicrobial drugs to treat zoo animals in order to provide effective treatment and to decrease the potential development of antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics.

Literature Cited

1.  Bauer, A.W., W.M. Kirby, J.C. Sherris, and M. Turck. 1966. Antibiotic susceptibility testing by a standardized single disk method. Am. J. Clin. Pathol. 45: 493–496.