Abstract:
This cross-sectional study was conducted for six months, from January to June 2013, to estimate the prevalence of internal lesions in slaughtered camels at Tambool slaughterhouse, to isolate and identify the aerobic bacteria colonizing these lesions and to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of these isolates. A total of 280 camels .
Samples were taken investigated from carcasses internal lesions at different organs for bacteriological investigation. Internal lesions were detected in 25.0% (70/280) with 95% CI of ±5.07 carcasses and were detected in different internal organs including lungs, liver and heart. Lungs lesions (51.4%) were the most observed pathology followed by hepatic lesions (45.7%) and the least (2.90%) were lesions of heart muscle. The proportions of internal lesions detection differed between geographical origin, breeds, age groups, and males and females. In the univariate analysis using chi square, origin (x2 = 49.6, df = 3, p-value = 0.001), sex (x2 = 29.9, df = 1, p-value = 0.001), breed (x2 = 35.1, df = 3, p-value = 0.001), and body condition (x2 = 26.5, df = 2, p-value = 0.001) were significantly associated with the detection internal lesions. However, age (x2 = 2.56, df = 1, p-value = 0.110) was not significantly associated with internal lesions detection. A number of 179 aerobic bacteria belonging to 9 genera were isolated. Most of the isolates (n = 107; 59.8%) were gram positive bacteria (cocci and bacilli),whereas the rest (n = 72; 40.2%) were gram negative rods. Staphylococcus species were the most frequent (32.0%), followed by E. coli (26.0%), Streptococcus species (18.0%), Corynebacterium species (5.0%), Bacillus speciesSalmonella species, Pseudomonus species, and Klebsiella species; each of them 4.0%, and Shigella species (2%). Chloramphenicol was the most effective antibiotic against Staphylococcus species, Corynebacterium species, and Bacillus species, each with inhibition zone of 10 mm, while penicillin g 10 was more against Streptococcus species with inhibition zone of 10 mm. Ciprofloxacin 5 mcg and ampicllin/sulpactum 20 mcg were effective against E. coli, Salmonella species, Klebsiella species, Shigella species, and Pseudomonas species with inhibition zones of 8 and 10 mm. It can be concluded that internal lesions are prevalent in camels slaughtered at Tambool slaughterhouse and many gram positive bacteria and gram negative bacteria were isolated from the samples collected from these lesions, and hence, an extended study is warranted to evaluate the economic magnitude of internal lesions resulting in partial and/or total condemnation of organs
