Diversity of staphylococcal species cultured from captive livingstone's fruit bats (pteropus livingstonii) and their environment

Kay Fountain, Larry Roberts, Victoria Young, Alberto Barbon, Sian Marie Frosini, David H. Lloyd, Anette Loeffler

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Livingstone's fruit bats (Pteropus livingstonii) are critically endangered and a captive population has been established as part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Action Plan. The largest colony, in Jersey Zoo, was sampled for staphylococcal carriage and at infection sites, as disease associated with staphylococci had previously been found. Staphylococci were cultured from swabs from 44 bats (skin, oropharynx, mouth ejecta, skin lesions) and from their enclosure. The isolates were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time of flight mass spectrometry; antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by disc diffusion and screening for mecA and mecC. Seventeen species of coagulase-negative staphylococci including Staphylococcus xylosus, S. kloosii, S. nepalensis, and S. simiae were isolated. Staphylococcus aureus was identified from both carriage and lesional sites. These findings suggest S. nepalensis may be part of the normal carriage flora of bats. Antimicrobial resistance rates were low and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was not identified. Sampling of mouth ejecta for staphylococci may provide results representative for carriage sites.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)266-269
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine
Volume50
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Apr 2019

Funding

This study was approved by the Royal Veterinary College Clinical Research Ethical Review Board (CRERB URN 2015 1332). Livingstone’s fruit bats and their enclosure at JZ (one large flight tunnel with a separate small hospital enclosure), were sampled on three occasions between 2014 and 2016.22 Bats were sampled opportunistically by swabbing healthy ventral wing skin, oropharyngeal mucosae in bats anesthetized for other purposes, mouth ejecta, and skin lesions, using cotton swabs dipped in tryptic Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank all staff at Jersey Zoo, especially Dominic Wormell, Gayle Glendewar, Edward Bell, Ann Thomasson, and Andrew Routh; and Ben Pascoe at University of Bath for genome sequencing. This study was funded by a training grant from the European Society of Veterinary Dermatology, grant number ESVD 3577.

Keywords

  • Livingstone's fruit bat
  • MALDI-TOF
  • S. simiae
  • Skin lesion
  • Staphylococci

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Animal Science and Zoology
  • General Veterinary

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