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Concern of human disease due to gastrointestinal pathogens, Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., Vibrio spp., Escherichia coli, and Yersinia enterocolitica continues worldwide. For prevention and control of outbreaks, it is important to have knowledge of the sources of infection or the animal reservoirs. In Grenada, we isolated several potentially human pathogenic serovars of Salmonella from animals in the last few years. These included Salmonella enterica serovars Javiana, Rubislaw, and Montevideo from free-living cane toads.1 A somewhat similar picture was evident with regard to mongoose, another wild animal in Grenada. The most common serovars were Javiana and Montevideo.2 Of these, serovar Javiana had emerged as a human pathogen in the United States a few years ago. Our isolates showed absence of resistance to the currently used antibiotics for cases of human salmonellosis, including ciprofloxacin and cefotaxime. In another recent study done in Grenada, we isolated S. Saintpaul and S. Montevideo from blue land crabs. In the Caribbean, S. Saintpaul has been frequently isolated from humans.3 On the other hand, Rubislaw was the most common serovar from green iguanas (Iguana iguana), and some isolates showed reduced susceptibility to cefotaxime.4 Blue land crabs and green iguanas are used as human food in Grenada, which is a matter of concern when these animals may carry pathogenic Salmonella strains with drug resistance.
Keywords: human pathogenic; Montevideo from free-living cane toads
VETERINARY MEDICINE Open Journal http://dx.doi.org/10.17140/VMOJ-1-e002 Vet Med Open J ISSN 2475-1286 Harry Hariharan, DVM, PhD* Department of Pathobiology, St. George’s University School of Veterinary Medicine, Grenada, West Indies *Corresponding author Harry Hariharan, DVM, PhD Department of Pathobiology St. George’s University School of Veterinary Medicine Grenada, West Indies Tel. +1-473-444-4175 Fax: +1-473-439-5068 E-mail: hhariharan@sgu.edu Article History Received: August 22nd, 2016 Accepted: August 22nd, 2016 Published: August 23rd, 2016 Citation Hariharan H. Observations on emerg- ing zoonotic enteric bacterial patho - gens. Vet Med Open J. 2016; 1(2): e3-e4. doi: 10.17140/VMOJ-1-e002 Copyright ©2016 Hariharan H . This is an open access article distributed un- der the Creative Commons Attribu- tion 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the origi - nal work is properly cited.
Volume 1 : Issue 2 Article Ref. #: 1000VMOJ1e002 Observations on Emerging Zoonotic Enteric Bacterial Pathogens Page e3 Editorial Concern of human disease due to gastrointestinal pathogens, Salmonella spp., Campy- lobacter spp., Vibrio spp., Escherichia coli , and Yersinia enterocolitica continues worldwide. For prevention and control of outbreaks, it is important to have knowledge of the sources of in- fection or the animal reservoirs. In Grenada, we isolated several potentially human pathogenic serovars of Salmonella from animals in the last few years. These included Salmonella enterica serovars Javiana, Rubislaw, and Montevideo from free-living cane toads.1 A somewhat similar picture was evident with regard to mongoose, another wild animal in Grenada. The most com- mon serovars were Javiana and Montevideo. 2 Of these, serovar Javiana had emerged as a hu- man pathogen in the United States a few years ago. Our isolates showed absence of resistance to the currently used antibiotics for cases of human salmonellosis, including ciprofloxacin and cefotaxime. In another recent study done in Grenada, we isolated S. Saintpaul and S. Montevi- deo from blue land crabs. In the Caribbean, S. Saintpaul has been frequently isolated from hu- mans.3 On the other hand, Rubislaw was the most common serovar from green iguanas (Iguana iguana), and some isolates showed reduced susceptibility to cefotaxime. 4 Blue land crabs and green iguanas are used as human food in Grenada, which is a matter of concern when these animals may carry pathogenic Salmonella strains with drug resistance. Campylobacter spp. can cause not only gastroenteritis, but also extragastrointestinal manifestations including Guillain-Barrè syndrome (GBS). C. jejuni-related GBS is perhaps on the increase in some countries. 5 GBS-like conditions can occur in animals, and further stud- ies are required.6 Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli , including strains similar to those causing human disease have been isolated from animals in Grenada. However, we have not looked for the emerging species C. ureolyticus, which was called Bacteroides ureolyticus until recently. Hariharan et al7 isolated B. ureolyticus from many equine endometrial swabs 2 decades ago in Canada. It has become necessary to include C. ureolyticus in further epidemiological studies on Campylobacter spp. This species of Campylobacter appears to surpass C. coli as the second most common causative agent of Campylobacter-related human gastroenteritis in Ireland.8 Potentially zoonotic vibrios have been isolated from shellfish, including conchs from Grenada.9 Little is known regarding the bacteria associated with the queen conch (Strombus gigas), and further research is needed on this shellfish used for human consumption in the Ca- ribbean.
Animals such as goats may harbor human pathogenic strains of E. coli , such as sero- type O157:H7.10 Hariharan et al 11 reported a case of diarrhea and systemic infection in a goat due to Escherichia fergusonii. This organism can cause disease resembling salmonellosis in ruminants, and diarrhea in humans as well.
Another re-emerging organism is Yersinia enterocolitica, causing unusual increase in human cases.12 Pigs are the main reservoirs of virulent serotypes of this organism.13 In summary, research on animal reservoirs of human bacterial pathogens need to con- tinue for understanding the epidemiology, and for effective prevention and control. VETERINARY MEDICINE Open Journal http://dx.doi.org/10.17140/VMOJ-1-e002 Vet Med Open J ISSN 2475-1286 Page e4